Newcastle United’s joy at securing a third successive Premier League win in a narrow 1-0 victory over Aston Villa has been dampened by the news Kieran Trippier will be ruled out for up to six weeks with a broken metatarsal.
Trippier has been in superb form for Newcastle since his £15m move from Atletico Madrid in January, helping to shore up an error prone and leaky defence.
His delivery from set pieces has also added another dimension to the team’s attacking play and he is even chipped in with two goals in his four appearances for the club. His personality, performances and leadership skills have endeared the full back to teammates and fans alike.
The England international, who found the net straight from free kicks in the vital home victories over Everton and Aston Villa will almost certainly miss the next round of March international fixtures.
Trippier is fighting with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander Arnold, Manchester City’s Kyle Walker and Chelsea’s Recce James for a place in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the World Cup later this year and would have almost certainly started one of the games against Switzerland on March 26th or Ivory Coast on March 29th.
The 31-year-old has already had surgery and no definitive timescale has been put on his recovery after an x-ray showed he had broken his fifth metatarsal. A best case scenario would be two to four weeks to let the bone heal, which would give him an outside chance of proving his fitness for his club before the squad is announced.
A Newcastle statement read: “Newcastle United defender Kieran Trippier is set to be sidelined for the club’s upcoming fixtures after fracturing a bone in his foot during Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Aston Villa.
Trippier underwent an X-ray immediately after the game and scans have shown a fracture to the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot. Everyone at the club wishes Kieran a speedy recovery. “
The problems for Howe have been accentuated by the fact the most obvious replacement for Trippier , Javier Manquillo, also picked up an injury against Villa and has damaged ankle ligaments.
With Matt Ritchie also injured that leaves Emil Krafth as the only fit right back at the club.
