The 21-year-old, a £2.5million summer signing from Liverpool, has missed the last three games through suspension after being sent off for kicking out at Hull's Craig Fagan last month.

As a result, he could only look on as the Magpies, shattered by Kevin Keegan's resignation as manager and the subsequent unheaval it sparked, as well as an ongoing injury crisis, have lurched from one disaster to another.

However, he will be back in the squad on Sunday as interim boss Joe Kinnear attempts to dispel the doom and gloom hanging over St James' Park by ending a run of five consecutive defeats at Everton.

Having made his apologies to Fagan, whose leg was broken in the incident, Guthrie is hoping for a chance to make amends for his rush of blood against Hull by playing his part in a recovery.

He said: "The last couple of weeks, I have been a bit down, but I can only blame myself for that. Hopefully, I can end that on Sunday.

"I have spoken to Craig Fagan and apologised, and he was sound about it. He said I should't have done it, but that's football.

"I said I was sorry about what happened and he was fine about it.

"It is good to be back. It was quite lucky really as it came over an eight-day period due to the Carling Cup game.

"It was a long wait and it has been good to be back. It has been frustrating for me after doing something so silly.

"You pay the price for not playing and then everything else has happened around me with the manager coming in.

"I'm glad it is over and now I just want to concentrate on playing football."

Guthrie will not be alone in wanting to concentrate on football with St James' developing into something of a circus in recent days.

Keegan's departure, owner Mike Ashley's decision to offload the club, the race to buy him out and Kinnear's shock appointment have all made headlines, while the latest manager's spat with sections of the written press occupied more column inches on Friday morning.

But for Guthrie, the only thing that will matter at 4pm on Sunday will be the three points at stake.

Everton have lost each of their three Premier League games to date at Goodison Park this season with Blackburn, Portsmouth and, most painfully, arch-rivals Liverpool all leaving victorious.

Their only positive result on home soil was a 2-2 UEFA Cup draw with Standard Liege, although that proved costly on Thursday evening when the Belgians completed a 4-3 aggregate victory to dump David Moyes' men out of the competition.

However, Guthrie and his team-mates will be taking nothing for granted.

The former Liverpool midfielder said: "They have to win sooner or later and hopefully, that is not against us.

"We know it will be a tough game. They are strong at home, but with us getting a new manager in, it has given us a lift.

"Playing two games in the space four days is always tough, so hopefully we can capitalise on that.

"We are fresh, we have trained and also had a couple of days off. We need to use that to our advantage."

As well as Guthrie, Kinnear will hope to have fullbacks Jose Enrique and Habib Beye back in the picture after hamstring and Achilles injuries respectively.

Newcastle have been forced to field central defenders Steven Taylor, Sebastien Bassong and David Edgar, or midfielders Geremi and Charles N'Zogbia, at full-back in recent weeks, an illustration of the shortages which so concerned Keegan and in part led to his departure.