. Since mid-December, Newcastle have been imperious in the Premier League. They have won seven of their past eight games and bounced back from that Bournemouth game by beating another south-coast side, Southampton, to climb to fifth.
Eddie Howe’ team, who trail fourth-placed Manchester City on goal difference, will fancy their chances of another victory when Fulham visit on Saturday. Very few defences can handle the Newcastle attack at the minute. Alexander Isak has been sensational this season, scoring 17 goals in the Premier League – only Mohamed Salah (19) and Erling Haaland (18) have more. Anthony Gordon has directly contributed to a goal in 10 of his past 11 Newcastle outings. The pair deserve immense credit, but so does the third member of the scalpel-sharp trident.
The question for Howe earlier in the season was who to pick as the third attacker in his 4-3-3. Harvey Barnes probably expected to nail down the role. Miguel Almirón was another option for Howe, though the Paraguay international has departed for Atlanta United. In the end, Jacob Murphy stepped up and now the right-wing spot is his to lose.
As Isak and Gordon put opponents to the sword, Murphy has been sneaking up the assist leaderboard. Only Salah (13), Bukayo Saka (10) and Antonee Robinson (nine) have set up more goals than Murphy (eight) in the league. Six of those assists have been for Isak, making them the deadliest assist-to-goalscorer combination in the campaign.
If Murphy sets up Isak three more times they will match the Premier League record of nine goals in a season where one teammate has set up another. That record is shared by three duos: Mike Newell setting up Alan Shearer for Blackburn, Stan Collymore laying on goals for Robbie Fowler for Liverpool, and Harry Kane picking out Son Heung-min for …
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