Newcastle now set to be without £12m man for 'at least a few weeks' - journalist

Newcastle United look set to be without a key man for a few weeks through injury.

It just wouldn't be Newcastle United without a new injury to cover, would it?

This time it's 34-year-old Kieran Trippier who looks set for a spell on the sidelines after forcing his way back to the top of the right-back pecking order.

When the season got underway it looked like Tino Livramento had made himself first-choice for the right-back role, especially after a summer of speculation linking Trippier with a Newcastle exit.

Eddie Howe brought Trippier back into the fold after a slow start to the season

After a less-than-impressive start to the season, Eddie Howe had to tweak his plans and it looked like a big part of that was reinstating the £12 million signing to the starting lineup.

However, Howe will now have to revert to Plan A as Craig Hope has reported in his Newcastle Confidential column for the Mail that Trippier has picked up a hamstring injury.

Trippier was withdrawn from the goalless draw with Everton on Saturday at around the 71 minute mark, but nothing was mentioned about a potential injury at the time.

Trippier will miss the game with Brighton at least

It now looks as though Trippier will miss next Saturday's visit of Brighton, but beyond that it's unknown when he's likely to return to action.

Trippier was in attendance as England lost 2-1 to Greece in the Nations League last night where his teammate and understudy, Tino Livramento watched on from the sidelines, likely through his fingers if he was anything like us.

Both Trippier and Livramento are similar but both tend to bring slightly different things to the side, so for Howe to lose that option could be a problem, but it's one position where the cover is more than adequate.