Add as preferred source on Google

It has been a strange season for Nick Pope.

So good last time out, the England international had not covered himself in glory this time around as Newcastle United went into the first international break in poor form.

Since, however, Pope has recovered. Excellent against AC Milan in the Champions League, that looked to have set the tone for his improvement.

While the former Burnley stopper has been so good since his £10m move to the club that it would seem churlish to criticise him, Pope was somewhat at fault for West Ham’s first goal in Sunday’s 2-2 draw.

The 31-year-old rushed out to deny Lucas Paqueta any space after Emerson’s ball over the top but the Brazilian managed to get around him with ease before cutting back for Tomas Soucek to score the opener.

Asked about the incident after the game, Eddie Howe wanted to focus on the positives.

Eddie Howe addresses Nick Pope’s performance against West Ham

Speaking to BBC Sport, Howe said: “I prefer to focus on the save at the end. It has got us a point really. Nick has been magnificent in recent weeks and he has certainly played his part in our run of clean sheets.

“I think there’s disappointment late in the game but maybe, when the dust settles, we’ll look at it differently. It depends on the next results for us.”

Pope not quite at his best

There has been a huge improvement in Pope of late considering his performances at the start of the season but it’d be hard to argue he’s hit the form of last year.

The only major issue last time out was his red card against Liverpool which ruled him out of the Carabao Cup final, after all.

This season, meanwhile, there have been a few incidents, the latest being his decision to try and rush Paqueta before being done pretty easily.

It’s not to say everything has been bad of course but the consistency isn’t quite there yet.