The knee's great, I feel fine. I was actually quite surprised with how seamless the rehab was because I've had some tricky rehabs in the past, so to have a smooth one and be able to just come back smoothly has been nice. To get minutes back into the legs has been great, and finally feeling like I'm in rhythm again is nice as well after that past 90 [minute appearance].
Having missed the last two games against Leeds United and Port Vale, Swedish goalkeeper Melker Ellborg has stepped in to replace his Belgian counterpart. Winning at Elland Road, he kept a clean sheet on his debut for the club, but Ellborg could do little as the Black Cats crashed out of the FA Cup against the League One outfit just last weekend.
The role of a goalkeeper can sometimes be very up and down. But [Pope] has to see the longer-term vision: simply be at his very best; forget about team selection. The message to Pope was: find the sharpness that made you one of England's more reliable keepers, or you may not start.
According to a report from Sports Boom, Newcastle are one of the sides interested in signing Arsenal forward Trossard, with his contract set to expire next summer. It's claimed that the Gunners would be open to negotiations for a fee in the region of £20m-£25m, while the Belgian forward could demand in the region of £130,000-a-week to make the move.
