Newcastle are to send Michael Owen to see the man who saved Alan Shearer's career to assess his knee injury.

The Magpies confirmed this afternoon that the 26-year-old will travel to America within the next few weeks to consult top specialist Richard Steadman.

A statement issued through the club's official website, www.nufc.co.uk, said: "Newcastle United have been in touch with Dr Richard Steadman at his Colorado clinic with a view to him assessing Michael Owen's knee injury and deciding upon the best treatment for Michael.

"As a result, Michael and club medical staff will travel to America in the next few weeks to see Dr Steadman. For the time being, Michael will remain in Newcastle under the supervision of United's medical team."

Owen ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during England's 2-2 World Cup draw with Sweden last week and is expected to be out of action for months. Meanwhile, Owen admits England would not win the World Cup on current form but is confident Sven-Goran Eriksson's side will raise their game when it matters.

England showed little improvement in grinding out a 1-0 win over Ecuador yesterday to set up a quarter-final with Portugal and Owen said: "If I was playing, there's not much I could do there either because we're not whizzing crosses in, we're not playing great through balls or anything like that. "It's a tough tournament which is down to other teams, it's down to conditions and a lot of things. We've not quite clicked yet but there's plenty of time. Players aren't stupid. Everyone realises if we play like we have been playing then you would not think we would win the trophy. However, put Portugal, Argentina or anyone in front of us and you'll definitely see a better performance."

Owen struggled in the first two matches against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago before being forced off minutes into the clash with Sweden and the Newcastle striker told ITV1: "I wasn't setting the world alight but not many players are. "I suffered a lot in the first couple of games because we weren't playing well as a whole and strikers always suffer when that happens. Sven and the coaching staff any everyone else are working as hard as they can to get the right blend but so far it's not there. What I'm banking on is as soon as we play a top team we raise our game because top players can do that and we've certainly got those."

Owen also has reservations about the system deployed against Ecuador, which saw Wayne Rooney deployed as a lone striker. "It gives you advantages in different areas of the pitch and disadvantages," Own said. "I always like two players up front, it gives options and they can feed off each other. I don't think there are major problems - we're in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. We are keeping clean sheets and not giving many chances away but I'm sure we could be more inventive and more creative in the final third."