Coming into last night’s game at Everton, the question on everyone’s lips was ‘who will Howe pick in goal?’
But it seems that decision was taken out of Eddie Howe’s hands on Friday, as Nick Pope suffered a groin injury, handing Aaron Ramsdale his first start for us in the Premier League, and John Ruddy a rare appearance on the bench.
After his training ground injury on Friday, there’s no current timeline for when Pope will return to playing, and also doubt around Sven Botman’s back injury as he prepares to see a specialist after missing out again on Saturday night.
On Pope’s latest injury, Howe commented: “We’re disappointed to lose him. He suffered an injury just towards the end of training. Wrong-footed on a shot and felt something in his groin, more after training than in that moment.”
“We hope he’s not out for long, we need him back. He’ll have a scan in the next few days to find the damage.”
Botman is also set to be examined, leaving him a doubt for a busy week on Tyneside as we prepare to face Spurs and Burnley at home on Tuesday and Saturday.
“Sven is going to see a specialist this week. Fingers crossed, he’s not out for too long,” Howe said after the match last night.
“Any absence of a player with Sven’s qualities, especially with the injuries that he has had, is a blow for us. So, fingers crossed.”
With Kieran Trippier (hamstring) out for up to a month, Yoane Wissa still working his way back from a knee injury, Wills Osula managing an ankle issue and Emil Krafth absent yesterday due to a knee problem, let’s hope our fitness issues do not start to mount up anymore as we head into a hectic December.
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