NEWCASTLE were the big winners from the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.
Eddie Howe’s men swaggered to an emphatic 5-1 victory over Aston Villa in what should have been a more even contest.
The Villains’ results have been mightily impressive under Unai Emery and with the two teams having played out an entertaining 3-3 draw in a pre-season friendly in Philadelphia just over a fortnight ago, Saturday’s late kick-off at St James’ Park was expected to be a hard-fought affair.
However, the hosts blitzed their opponents to register a whopping 13 shots on target, taking advantage of Villa’s injury absentees and a high defensive line to full effect.
Barring something remarkable between Manchester United and Wolves this evening, Newcastle will top the after the first round of fixtures.
More importantly, Alexander Isak (£4m) looks set to finish Gameweek 1 as Dream Team’s joint-top scorer.
The Swedish forward bagged 15 points to edge out Erling Haaland (£8.5m), who returned 14 points against Burnley – Manchester City’s No9 is by far the most-popular captain this Gameweek too.
Newcastle’s No14 earned his returns through two goals – one a typical poacher’s finish from a set-piece knockdown, the other a pleasing dink – three shots on target and two appearance points for playing 68 minutes.
It’s likely he’ll be a popular recruit ahead of Gameweek 2 but should gaffers really use one of their two weekly transfers to facilitate this switch?
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Isak is certainly a viable option and if Newcastle are going to carrying on playing with the attacking verve they exhibited against Villa then he should plunder plenty of points but it’s worth flagging the Magpies travel to the Etihad this coming weekend.
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A trip to the treble-winners’ lair is the probably the most difficult fixture in world football right now.
Isak will then face Liverpool at home before a visit to Brighton.
All things considered, it’s a testing run of games in the coming weeks and while Howe’s side are more than capable of competing, Dream Team bosses are generally better off targeting more favourable match-ups.
Isak looks like a great option but are gaffers better off waiting until after the international break when the Toon’s fixtures start to look much more friendly?
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
