Newcastle United‘s defender Kieran Trippier will be absent for the upcoming two games due to a slight injury, which will also likely exclude him from England’s forthcoming friendly matches, confirmed manager Eddie Howe on Friday. The experienced 33-year-old defender, who has represented England 46 times, sustained the injury in Newcastle’s recent 3-0 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The team is set to face Chelsea, who currently sit 11th in the Premier League rankings, this Monday, followed by an FA Cup quarterfinal match against Manchester City on March 16. On the international front, England is scheduled to play against Brazil and Belgium at Wembley on March 23 and March 26, respectively.
Kieran Trippier sidelined until after international break
Howe shared, “Kieran’s injury is not too bad, a minor injury,” during a press briefing. “The scans showed enough to probably keep him out for the next two games, and we hope he will be back for the first game after the international break, although that’s not guaranteed. There is every chance he travels to both games; he is very keen to stay with the group despite the injury. It highlights his leadership qualities. As far as I know he will not be going away with England.”
In Trippier’s absence, Howe expressed his confidence in 21-year-old Tino Livramento, who joined Newcastle last August from Championship team Southampton. “It has been a brilliant start to his Newcastle career, Tino has handled himself well, played ever so well,” Howe remarked. “It goes without saying how good he is athletically and that showed with his goal against Wolves, showed his running ability and then his technical quality. I have been delighted with how he has started here.”
Currently in eighth place in the league with 40 points from 27 matches, Newcastle aims to bounce back to its peak performance after being knocked out of the Champions League. Howe admitted, “We are running out of games and the season seems like it has gone so quickly, we are here now with minimal games left and we are trying to maximise on every game. We have a bit of form behind us and we are still trying to recapture our best performance levels. We have high expectations of ourselves and we are not where we want to be, but hopefully we can get back to 100% as quickly as possible.”
