Newcastle

His approach should not come as a surprise.

Trippier admitted it will be “emotional” to leave Newcastle at the end of his contract, after spending longer at the club than anywhere else in his senior career.

He is determined to end his four-and-a-half-year spell on a high, and could even come back into the side for a final run following injuries to Lewis Miley and Tino Livramento.

There is likely to be a familiar look to the team which lines up against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, as a result.

Nick Pope, Trippier, Dan Burn, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Sandro Tonali, Joe Willock and Jacob Murphy could start. They all featured when Newcastle ended a 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy by winning the EFL Cup last season.

It was Trippier who set up Burn’s opener in the 2-1 win against Liverpool in the final, before he went on to lift the trophy alongside skipper Guimaraes and previous club captain Jamaal Lascelles at Wembley.

But that had not necessarily been part of Trippier’s “selfless” plan, as former team-mate Callum Wilson explained.

“He was not interested in lifting the trophy,” said the striker, who is now at West Ham.

“It took myself and a few other senior players to say, ‘Go on, get your hands on the trophy and lift it with everybody – all three of you do it together because it’s a team effort’.

“Ultimately, he played a big part in that as well so I felt like that moment really summed him up as a character.”

Such a prospect felt a long way off when the pair spoke on FaceTime to discuss relegation-threatened Newcastle‘s plight – several weeks before Trippier joined the club from Atletico Madrid in January 2022.

The right-back proved a catalyst, as the first signing in the aftermath of the club’s Saudi-led takeover, and convinced others like Guimaraes to follow in the mid-season window.

Yet Trippier’s decision to swap life in the Champions League for an immediate survival battle led to accusations of greed externally.

The reality was a little different.

The Bury native wanted to return to the north of England for personal reasons and took a pay cut to reunite with head coach Eddie Howe, who he previously worked with at Burnley.

There was not even a relegation release clause in his contract.

Rather than being a mercenary, the La Liga title winner’s standards, approach to training and desire to help lifted a group which had only recorded a single victory up to that point.

Trippier’s presence behind the scenes quickly struck former team-mate Jonjo Shelvey.

“He’s a natural leader,” the ex-Newcastle midfielder said.

“He made a move at a time when the club was struggling and came in with his know-how and knowledge, and helped us massively.”

Head coach Eddie Howe says the desire of Newcastle United‘s owners to get to the top remains “unchanged” after meeting with them this week.

Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and minority owner Jamie Reuben are among those who have flown in for a two-day annual summit at Matfen Hall in Northumberland.

Although the PIF is to withdraw its multi-billion dollar backing of LIV Golf at the end of the season, senior figures at Newcastle were informed a couple of weeks ago that the pullout would not affect the club.

Newcastle are 14th place in the Premier League, but Howe stressed the “determination to succeed” came through from those above him in the meetings he attended on Thursday.

“The desire is unchanged,” he said. “It’s to try and get to the top of the Premier League, to try and consistently win as many trophies as possible.

“I don’t think that will change while the PIF are our owners, part owners or majority owners. They are very ambitious for the football club.”

Newcastle’s hierarchy have talked of achieving such goals by 2030, but Howe recognised that the infrastructure needed to elevate the club to such a position will take time.

Following a major capital investment, an announcement is expected regarding plans for a new state-of-the-art training ground to underline the owners’ commitment.

There have also been discussions this week regarding the future of St James’ Park as Newcastle weigh up whether to expand the stadium or build a new ground in a bid to turbocharge income streams in the long run and bridge a huge revenue gap on the league’s highest-earning clubs.

“They clearly care so much about the football club [given] the long-term planning that’s going on, on a number of levels,” Howe said of the PIF, who bought an initial 80% stake in 2021 before going on to increase their share.

“[There are] very exciting times ahead for the club, regardless of what happens short-term. The long-term vision is clearly there.”

This gathering of executives, which had been in the diary for several months, was viewed as an opportunity to discuss such infrastructure projects, recruitment plans, the team’s slide down the table and how the club go about addressing it.

Howe was among those to give a presentation on Thursday, as was always planned.

Rather than reacting emotionally, the view internally remains that Newcastle need to respond rationally with the help of cold, thorough analysis.

Howe had “challenging conversations” with those at the top, but the head coach sounded upbeat at his news conference on Friday before the visit of Brighton.

“I was pleased by the level of support given to me, but of course still understanding how football works and knowing we need to get results,” he said. “That will never change.”

Match of the Day’s Steph Houghton and Martin Keown explain how Arsenal and Eberechi Eze outfoxed Newcastle United with a tweak to their set-piece routine in their 1-0 win at the Emirates Stadium.

MATCH REPORT: Eze strike gives Arsenal important win in title fight

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Arsenal would move six points clear of second-placed Manchester City if they beat Fulham in their home game next week, though City, who were in FA Cup semi-final action this weekend, would have two games in hand.

That is because Manchester City were playing in the FA Cup semi-final earlier on Saturday against Southampton and are not back in league action until Monday, 4 May when they play Everton.

Having that buffer of points built up by the time of City’s next game at Everton on Monday 4 May would be a huge boost for Arteta’s side given they went into this weekend off the top for the first time since October.

According to Opta, Arsenal have a 72.44% chance of lifting the Premier League trophy at the end of the season compared to the 27.56% chance of Manchester City.

“You can’t question their fight. Arsenal have given absolutely everything on that pitch today,” former Crystal Palace and Brighton striker Glenn Murray said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Another huge three points for Arsenal to keep them top of the league.”

Arsenal are without a major trophy since the FA Cup triumph of 2020 which came in Arteta’s first season in charge.

And captain Martin Odegaard said that the effort the players put in is because every member of the team is doing what they can to get over the line.

“It was tough, very intense, very physical,” he told Sky Sports. “We did everything we could and we got the win, the most important thing was to bounce back with a win and get over the line with the three points.”

But for Odegaard, who played the full 90 minutes, and the rest of the squad attention quickly switches to the Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

“This schedule is crazy,” Odegaard added. “We just have to keep going. It is the end of the season, just leave everything out that we have inside, fight every single game and we just have to keep going.

“That’s where we want to be but it is going to go all the way to the end. We are ready for it and we will fight every single day.”