Newcastle star ruled out of Chelsea clash after undergoing surgery – The Times

Nick Pope has been ruled out of our final game of the season and missed out on the England squad after undergoing surgery, as revealed by The Times.

Martin Hardy has confirmed that our No 1 will not play in our final game of the season on Sunday, as he’s gone under the knife after playing through the pain barrier over the final few weeks of the season.

Now we’ve secured a top-four finish with one game to spare, he’s brought forward an operation to fix the problem ahead of pre-season.

This will mean one of Martin Dubravka, Loris Karius or Mark Gillespie will start at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, also keeping Pope out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad; which features Kieran Trippier and a recall for Callum Wilson.

Wilson deserves it after 11 goals since April, while Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock have also made strong cases for selection. Sadly, however, a hamstring injury for Willock has ruled him out of contention.