NICK POPE has an outside chance of being available for Sunday’s Wear-Tyne derby against Sunderland, but neither Kieran Trippier nor Sven B...
NICK POPE has an outside chance of being available for Sunday’s Wear-Tyne derby against Sunderland, but neither Kieran Trippier nor Sven Botman are expected to feature for Newcastle United at the Stadium of Light.
And Eddie Howe has revealed that Yoane Wissa has been struggling with an illness issue that means he is an unlikely starter as Newcastle look to claim North-East derby honours on Wearside.
Pope has been sidelined since injuring his groin in training last month, but while he did not travel to Germany for last night’s Champions League draw with Bayer Leverkusen, he has been able to step up his recovery programme in the last few days.
That has given him a chance of featuring against Sunderland, although Howe is likely to err on the side of the caution if there is any chance of the goalkeeper suffering an injury recurrence if he is rushed back into the team.
Trippier and Botman are not yet back in training, so will not feature against Sunderland, with Emil Krafth and Will Osula also still unavailable. Botman has had an injection to address a back issue, but is not yet ready to join in with first-team training at Darsley Park.
“I’m not sure yet if we’ll have anyone back,” said Howe. “Maybe not. There is a slight bit of uncertainty because we’ve still got a couple of days to see how things play out and I haven’t really been in contact with those guys for a few days, having travelled out to Germany. I think that’s where we are.
“I don’t know with Nick, in particular. We’ll have to wait and see. I think Nick is the closest of all the players who are currently out. But I’m not sure quite how he feels. We’ll have to see.”
Wissa has now made two substitute appearances in a Newcastle shirt, but the striker has had a disrupted week because of illness. That was why he only came on for the final few seconds in the BayArena last week, and while he should be in the squad at Sunderland, he is not expected to make his first Magpies start in the derby.
“Yoane could start,” said Howe. “Although whether he’s physically able to and quite how long he can play are other questions. He had a bit of illness earlier in the week, hence why he only got a few minutes [in the Leverkusen game], which was unfortunate because he was going in the right direction.
“There was a bit of a knockback there, but we’re all back in training [on Thursday] and he’ll get some work. Then we’ll see how he is.”
Joelinton was substituted in the second half against Bayer after going down and needing treatment on his groin. His fitness will be closely assessed in the next couple of days, although the fact he appeared to be unhappy at the decision to immediately take him off last night suggests his injury problem is not too severe.
“It looks a groin issue with him [Joelinton], although I don’t know how serious it is at this moment in time,” said Howe in his post-match press conference.
Joelinton started alongside Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali against Bayer Leverkusen, with Howe admitting the latter is still trying to rediscover his best rhythm after a stop-start spell
“He’s [Tonali] had a little bit of a bitty last couple of months,” he said. “He had a bad illness which really knocked him, then he came back to fitness. Then he got a knock, I think it was the Tottenham game, so he’s been a little bit in and out in terms of how he physically feels.
“I’d say he felt a little bit tired towards the end [against Bayer Leverkusen], that’s probably just because he hasn’t played the amount of time he would normally so it’s just about building his rhythm back.”
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