NEWCASTLE: Kieran Trippier finally looks set for his long-awaited Newcastle United return against Manchester City.
The Magpies travel to Premier League title-challengers City looking to keep their own hopes of a top 10 Premier League finish alive 鈥� and they are likely to have England international defender Trippier, himself a Man City academy graduate, fit for Sunday鈥檚 encounter.
Trippier, a high-profile January addition from Atletico Madrid, has not kicked a ball since he proved the match-winner in the Magpies鈥� 1-0 win over Aston Villa in February. A broken foot, which required an operation, has kept him out for almost three months.
But having returned to full first-team training last Friday, the 31-year-old is edging closer to wearing the famous black and white in the Premier League run-in.
When asked whether Trippier will be available for the trip to the Etihad, head coach Eddie Howe said: 鈥淲e鈥檒l see how his training week progresses. Yes, that training session was Friday, so he was never going to be in contention to play (against Liverpool). We鈥檒l see how he progresses during the week.鈥�
On Saturday, United suffered only their fourth loss of 2022, and their first of the calendar year in the Premier League at St. James鈥� Park, to Man City鈥檚 title rivals Liverpool. Naby Keita got the only goal of the game in the first half.
One player who went off during that game was Fabian Schar. When asked about the nature of the problem 鈥� and whether it will keep the player out 鈥� Howe said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, it was related to the tackle. I don鈥檛 know what it is. I haven鈥檛 spoken to him or the medical team yet. We hope it鈥檚 nothing serious but obviously it was enough for him to come off.鈥�
While United turned to the likes of Jacob Murphy and Chris Wood off the bench, Liverpool 鈥� who made a raft of changes with the game sandwiched between a two-legged Champions League semi-final 鈥� called on world-renowned talent such as Mo Salah, Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho.
Having stated pre-game that he hopes Newcastle versus Liverpool could prove a title-decider in the future, Howe fully accepts that there is a long way to go to get there.
鈥淭hey rotated their team slightly and had quality from the bench, we knew that. That鈥檚 the standard, that鈥檚 the quality of their squad,鈥� he said.
鈥淔air play to them. We ran them all the way. It was close but it wasn鈥檛 close enough as I don鈥檛 think we had any sustained period of pressure.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we had that moment where you felt we must score. We had a lot of work to do from a defensive perspective to improve and get close to the top teams.鈥�
The challenges faced against Jurgen Klopp鈥檚 Reds on home soil will no doubt be amplified on away territory in Manchester this coming weekend.
鈥淵ou have several challenges,鈥� Howe said on facing the likes of Liverpool and Man City. 鈥淔irst and foremost, it鈥檚 trying to get the ball, which isn鈥檛 easy, and trying to exert the right amount of pressure to win the ball back. How many men do you push forward to do that?
鈥淚 thought we got the balance better in the second half. I thought we improved and were slightly more aggressive without being cavalier. But that鈥檚 the biggest challenge. You need the ball to score, and on transitions we probably weren鈥檛 good enough.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 a genuine counterattack threat in the game, which I probably thought pre-game we would be. Our set play execution as well wasn鈥檛 quite at the level it has been because that might be the avenue to get us a goal.鈥�