Troy Deeney snubs Newcastle United star who was even better than Alexander Isak in Team of the Week

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Troy Deeney completely overlooked Newcastle United’s best player in the recent 3-1 win over Southampton.

Newcastle United bounced back quickly from the alarming defeat to Bournemouth to pick up three points against Premier League strugglers Southampton on Saturday afternoon.

After seeing his goal streak come to an abrupt end the week before, Alexander Isak returned to the scoresheet with a superb brace, including a calmly-taken penalty to draw Newcastle level.

Alan Shearer hailed Isak as ‘world-class’ following his performance and the Swedish striker understandably hogged the headlines after starring in another win.

But in what was a strong team performance from the Magpies, there was arguably one player who was even better than Isak against the Saints.

Troy Deeney snubs Newcastle star from Premier League Team of the Week

It is that time of the week again where Troy Deeney selects his Premier League Team of the Week and while Isak led the line in his XI, he failed to find space for Sandro Tonali.

Tonali was Newcastle’s best player against Southampton after putting on a masterclass in midfield before securing the win with a well-taken goal in the second half.

Deeney snubbed Tonali and instead went with a midfield pairing of Tyler Adams and Dominik Szoboszlai. On Isak, Deeney wrote: “He just keeps scoring. You can’t leave someone out when they score two goals every week. He has been excellent and deserves to keep going.”

Deeney’s blunder on Fabian Schar earlier this month worsened what was already a frosty relationship between him and Newcastle fans.

He previously suggested that Newcastle may struggle to sign players as it’s not a desirable place to live. Deeney has also changed his tune about Isak after previously making a claim about Arsenal signing him.

Sandro Tonali outshone Alexander Isak against Southampton

There is no denying that Isak was exceptional against Southampton on the weekend and on another day he could have left St Mary’s Stadium with the match ball.

But Tonali’s performance in the heart of midfield was magical, and his stats from the match prove why Deeney has made a mistake leaving him out of his Team of the Week.

To add more context to Tonali’s statistics – he won more duels than any other Newcastle player while only Tino Livramento had more touches of the ball.

Since Howe moved Tonali into a deeper role, he has been in great form and made himself completely undroppable.