Kieran Trippier is expected to miss Newcastle United’s next two matches due to a calf injury.
Trippier, 33, sustained the issue during Newcastle’s 3-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday. The defender was withdrawn in the 52nd minute of the match and replaced by Tino Livramento.
“He obviously felt something in his calf, he had to come off the pitch, that is a concern for us,” Howe said after the Wolves game. “I don’t know how serious it is at the moment.”
Newcastle face a trip to Chelsea in the Premier League on Monday, before travelling to Manchester City for their FA Cup quarter-final the following Saturday in their final game before the international break.
Trippier is expected to be unavailable for England but could return when Newcastle host West Ham United on Saturday, March 30.
England have home friendlies against Brazil and Belgium on March 23 and 26 respectively as they prepare for the European Championship in Germany later this year.
The former Tottenham Hotspur defender has started every Premier League match he has been available for this season, registering one goal and 10 assists in the top flight. He also has 46 senior caps for his country and has been a regular under Southgate, playing in the right and left full-back positions.
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How much of a blow is this for Newcastle?
Analysis by Newcastle correspondent Chris Waugh
This is undoubtedly damaging for Newcastle, given Trippier’s leadership and importance to the side’s attacking game plan, but it is not quite the blow it would have been had this occurred last season.
Newcastle’s coaching staff spent the 2022-23 campaign fearing that Trippier would be sidelined with an injury as they simply did not possess a like-for-like replacement in the squad. Tino Livramento may not be stylistically identical to Trippier, but he was signed precisely so that he could deputise as an attacking right-back in the short term and, in the long run, succeed the man who often skippers the team.
Livramento even scored Newcastle’s final goal during the 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend after replacing Trippier.
Even so, losing one of the most creative players in the Premier League this season — Trippier has 10 top-flight assists in 2023-24, plus another in the Champions League — is far from ideal ahead of a difficult trip to Chelsea and then the daunting FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester City, Trippier’s former club.
There is a reason why Trippier was voted the North East Football Writers’ Association player of the year for 2023, despite a disastrous December. For the most part, he has been a standard-setter for Newcastle’s post-takeover era.
There will be relief, however, that the initial prognosis suggests that Trippier is not out for a prolonged period and could return following the March international break.
(Stu Forster/Getty Images)
