Nick Pope has become the third Newcastle star to withdraw from England duty with a minor injury after Fabian Schar and Miguel Almiron both declared themselves unavailable for selection a few days ago.
As revealed by The Athletic, Pope has missed training last week, but played through any pain on Friday night and will now be replaced by former Magpie and current Spurs stopper Fraser Forster.
With the 30-year-old typically England’s second choice and unlikely to start for the Three Lions, it’s best to have the shot-stopper remain in and around the squad as they head to Dubai during the break.
Miguel Almiron is another who has picked up an injury and will not take part in Paraguay’s friendly against Chile later this month, with Eddie Howe revealing on Friday night that he’ll be out for ‘six weeks.’
Thankfully, it seems these are just precautionary measures for Pope and Schar, but we’ll have to hope both can shrug off their issues and be fine for our crucial clash with Man Utd two weeks today.
