Newcastle United in 'difficult' situation ahead of Brighton & Man Utd after key man ruled out for five months

Eddie Howe is facing a ‘very difficult’ team selection decision following Nick Pope’s return to fitness for Newcastle United.

Pope hasn’t featured for Newcastle since dislocating his shoulder in a 1-0 win over Manchester United back in December. Over five months on, the 32-year-old is back in full training and pushing to get back in The Magpies’ starting line-up before the end of the season.

Last weekend at Burnley, Howe opted to keep Martin Dubravka in goal with Pope named on the bench. The Newcastle head coach has suggested Pope is still not quite ‘100% fit’ heading into the final three games of the season.

Next up for Newcastle is the final home match of the campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion followed by trips to Manchester United and Brentford to end the 2023-24 season.

When asked if he is facing a potential selection dilemma in terms of his goalkeeper in the final few matches, Howe said: “If both goalkeepers were 100% fit that’s a very difficult call but I think Nick is still building himself back to his very best levels and again, similar to the outfield players, building his robustness through training.

“Last week, for me, was very clear, Martin deserved to play and Nick is still finding his rhythm from a long-term injury.

“Nick has had a really good training week, I have to say, I think he’s been really good this week. He’s been the Nick Pope we’ve seen for the majority of his time at Newcastle so he’s certainly in a really good place and building his strength.”