Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has revealed the injury sustained by Nick Pope is a suspected dislocated shoulder.
The England goalkeeper had to be assisted off the pitch in the latter stages of Saturday night’s 1-0 win over Manchester United at st James’ Park after he went to the ground in some discomfort.
The 31-year-old was replaced by Martin Dubravka in the 86th minute of the match as the Magpies leapt up to fifth in the Premier League table thanks to Anthony Gordon’s second-half tap-in.
“It will be a massive blow for us if he is ruled out for any length of time,” Howe told TNT Sports after the full-time whistle.
“It looked really innocuous, but that is usually the way and they are normally the more serious ones. You could see he was in distress and it looked like he dislocated his shoulder just diving.
“Martin Dubravka came on in a tricky situation with 10 minutes to go, narrow lead. which is not nice for a goalkeeper, so I have to compliment him for doing so well.”
Pope‘s injury adds to Newcastle’s already long list of stricken players, with nine players on the treatment table heading into the game against Man United.
The absence of their first-choice goalkeeper will further stretch Howe’s paper thin squad ahead of a congested winter schedule which includes key matches against AC Milan and Tottenham Hotspur in the next week.
