Eddie Howe issues Nick Pope injury update ahead of Newcastle's trip to Southampton
Today at 04:48 AM
Nick Pope is ‘back in the mix’ after a knee injury and could be involved for Newcastle when they make the trip to Southampton on Saturday.
The England international has been out for over a month with a knee injury, last playing in a 4-2 defeat to Brentford on 7 December.
The Magpies have been in fine form without him, winning nine games on the spin, although that run was brought to an end by a 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth last time out.
Howe will hope to get back to winning ways at Southampton this weekend and Pope is in contention, although the manager would not confirm whether he or Martin Dubravka would be wearing the gloves against the Saints.
‘There’s a chance he’ll be in the squad,’ Howe told a press conference on Friday morning.
‘He’s started training with the group again and it’s great to see Nick back and his presence, the positivity that he brings.
‘I’ve seen him do some really good things this week, so yeah, delighted to have him back in the mix.’
Howe confirmed that another England international, Callum Wilson, is still sidelined due to a hamstring issue, but is not far away from a return.
‘It’s too early for Callum,’ he said. ‘Callum’s still on track for returning right at the beginning of February.
‘He’s making good progress. We’re trying to do the right things with him to make sure that he is robust enough and has all the work behind him and the load behind him before he starts training with the group.
‘But he seems very positive – what a massive player that would be to welcome back.’
Howe admitted that his team’s travel plans could be disrupted by Storm Eowyn and they may even have to fly down to Southampton on Saturday morning ahead of the 3pm kick-off.
‘Potentially the travel [has been affected], yeah. We’ll see how today goes,’ he said. ‘Our plan, as always, is to travel today. We’ll seek advice from the authorities. If it’s not safe to fly, we’ll fly tomorrow.
‘It’s a long journey and there’s no guarantee that a 8/9 hour journey won’t turn into a 12/13 hour journey,’ he said of a bus trip. ‘So it’s best we look to do that [fly].’
