Kieran Trippier gives fitness update in today's match programme as injury absence drags on

Newcastle United were expecting to have vice-captain Kieran Trippier back in the side shortly after the last international break but five games later and he's still not back.

Just this morning we asked "where is Kieran Trippier?" and we now have our answer thanks to today's match programme.

The 33-year-old has been absent since the beginning of March with a calf injury and although it was thought to be fairly innocuous at the time, Trippier has now missed six games, with today's match against Sheffield United set to be the seventh.

We're still not sure when we're likely to see Trippier in action again, but he hasn't been lumped into the 'out for the season' category which now stands at five players, so that's a small ray of hope.

Kieran Trippier is playing it safe with his current injury

Journalist Jordan Cronin posted a couple of quotes on X from Trippier's interview in the programme which explains his extended absence.

“With the amount of games I’ve played, we need to take extra precautions. It’s important there are no setbacks - I don’t want to come back and then re-injure myself so I’m just ticking every box.

“But the main thing is that the team has been winning games, and I’ll be back soon to help them try and secure European qualification.”

We could do with Trippier's leadership in the last few games

The unexpected defeat to Crystal Palace on Wednesday night has heaped extra pressure on the team to do well in the final five games as they continue to hunt for a spot in Europe next season.

Fortunately, Manchester United, West Ham and Chelsea who are all chasing the same goal, all keep dropping points too, but if any of them manage to put together a decent run then it's going to make things very interesting.

Newcastle have, on paper at least, the easiest run-in, although we do face Manchester United at Old Trafford in the penultimate game of the season, so the ball is essentially in our court.

Having Kieran Trippier back in the team would be a huge boost in the final games as we have really missed his leadership. We can't help but wonder what difference he'd have made on Wednesday night at Selhurst Park. Hopefully, he's back sooner rather than later to get us back into Europe which will be a monumental achievement after the struggles in this campaign.