Newcastle United’s goalkeeper Nick Pope has been assigned a return date.
Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe does not anticipate Nick Pope to return from injury until the end of April.
Pope has been out of action since early December due to shoulder dislocation sustained during Newcastle’s 1-0 home win against Manchester United.
There were suspicions that the England goalkeeper may return this month, but when asked by NewcastleWorld this week, Howe indicated that he will not be returning until April.
Howe was back in front of the media on Friday to preview the FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City, and when asked about Pope’s return date, the 46-year-old revealed: “April is his target, but I think that will be closer to the end of April than the beginning, but he’s making good, solid progress.
“He’s out on the grass, doing a variety of activities other than diving. Of course, diving is a major test for his shoulder, and that is most likely where he will begin to incorporate it back into his game.
“Of course, he’ll have to regain his sharpness. He’s in the last stretch of his comeback, yet he still has a lot of hurdles to go through.”
Meanwhile, Martin Dubravka will continue to deputise, and while the Slovakian has recently performed admirably, most notably in an FA Cup penalty shootout victory over Blackburn Rovers, Pope’s absence might define the season.
With Pope between the sticks, United has conceded 19 goals in 20 games this season, compared to 38 goals in the previous 21.
The majority of those goals have come from Dubravka, with the exception of the recent 4-1 defeat against Arsenal, when Loris Karius made only his second appearance in a year.
Since losing Pope, Howe’s team have only preserved four clean sheets, two of which came against Fulham. Their 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday marked their first Premier League clean sheet since December 16.
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