Howe hoping Pope makes swift return

NEWCASTLE head coach Eddie Howe insists he cannot afford to lose goalkeeper Nick Pope to injury for long despite having a more-than-adequate backup in Aaron Ramsdale.

- CARL MARKHAM

Pope is set to have a scan to assess a groin problem he sustained in training on Friday, just hours after Howe had defended him following a series of high-profile errors.

It spared Howe a difficult decision over whether to drop Pope for the 4-1 win at Everton - their first victory away from home since April - and insisted he had not already made that decision before it was taken out of his hands.

"We were just training as normal and he just, I think, wrong-footed on a shot and just felt something in his groin more after training than sort of in that moment," the Magpies manager revealed.