Experienced Knee Injury, Newcastle United Mainstay Goalkeeper Nick Pope May Be Absent From A Number Of Matches

JAKARTA - Newcastle United's mainstay goalkeeper Nick Pope is likely to miss, starting with the match against Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday, due to a knee injury. This was revealed by coach Eddie Howe.

"He had a knee injury this week. At first we thought it wasn't a serious problem," Eddie said, quoted from the Newcastle United website, as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, December 14.

He continued, Nick Pope is now under the supervision of the medical team to see how far his injury was and further treatment.

Newcastle and Eddie Howe themselves have not given an estimate of how long Pope will be absent.

However, the Premier League website stated, based on reports from several local media, Nick Pope was sidelined for approximately a month.

If that happens, Newcastle United will lose Pope in seven matches, namely five in the Premier League and one each in the League Cup and FA Cup.

One of the matches Pope could miss was the 2024-2025 Premier League match against the Yamu Leicester City team on Saturday at St James' Park Stadium.

As a substitute for Pope, Newcastle has two reserve goalkeepers, namely Martin Dubravka and John Ruddy.

Of the two names, Dubravka has great potential to be fielded. Dubravka, who wore jersey number 1 in Newcastle, has played once this season, against Wimbledon in the League Cup, early October 2024.

Last season, 35-year-old Dubravka played in 23 matches due to Pope's shoulder injury.

Meanwhile, John Ruddy, the former goalkeeper of Nottingham Forest, is a permanent reserve player who has not played this season.

Pope's absence could harm Newcastle United because the English footballer almost always plays in all competitions.

The Premier League noted, based on Opta, Nick Pope has played a very important role for Newcastle since his debut with the club on August 6, 2022.

When Nick played, Newcastle only conceded about one goal per game on average. If he missed, Newcastle conceded an average of two goals per game.

Calculated by his first appearance with Newcastle, Nick Pope has played 67 times in the Premier League and recorded 22 attempts.

The number of zero sheets is the fifth in the Premier League, if calculated from August 6, 2022.

The goalkeepers with the most zeros in that period were David Raya (33 times), followed by Jordan Pickford (26 times), Alisson Becker (25 times), Ederson (23 times) and Nick Pope (22 times).