Eddie Howe has predicted one of his Newcastle United players to return to his best form after suffering from injuries in this campaign.
Despite being unavailable for a number of games so far this season, Alexander Isak still has 10 goals to his name this season with eight of them coming in the Premier League.
Speaking ahead of Newcastle’s game against Liverpool, Howe claimed that the forward is now looking like he’s back to full fitness and can hopefully return to the form that he showed at the end of last season.
Isak’s fitness will be key to Newcastle’s season
Newcastle obviously have lots of key figures in this team who have been greatly missed whenever out injured or suspended, but Isak, along with Bruno Guimaraes, are perhaps the biggest losses to the team.
The Swedish striker has showed incredible form at times since signing in 2022 for £63m, but it’s his injury record which has been an issue for Howe so far.
His quality on the ball is probably the best in the team with his unbelievable solo run against Everton last season coming to mind as particular highlight of his relatively short Newcastle career.
Howe knows the ability that the 23-year-old has and is desperate for him to stay healthy so he can help push his side up the table after some poor results recently.
In his interview, Howe said: “He’s got so much within himself that he can help us with. He’s an outstanding technician, an outstanding athlete as well, and he knows where the goal is. He can score goals.
“It’s been a frustrating few weeks for Alex because he’s wanted to deliver physically so much more than he’s been able to. He’s been carrying a slight groin problem.
“He looks back to his physical best – I was pleased with him against Nottingham Forest, I thought he did really well. He could have scored probably two or three more goals on a different day. But he’s a real threat.”
The Magpies need to be able to rotate Isak and Wilson
It’s fair to say that Newcastle were at their very best last year when they had both Isak and Callum Wilson fully fit and were able to rest and rotate the pair every week.
It almost felt as if when the attacking duo would take it in turns to come off the bench to prove why they should be starting the next game, often scoring after being subbed on.
That healthy competition was so crucial for Howe and Newcastle as Wilson managed to net his highest ever Premier League tally with 18 goals while Isak also added 10 goals in 22 games.
This season has been a different story, however, as the pair have hardly been fit at the same time, but with Champions League out of the way there is hope that they can once again be rotated every week to maximise their effectiveness.
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