As they head into Sunday’s top-of-the-table Premier League fixture, Newcastle are breathing down Man United’s necks with just three points separating the teams.
With Champions League qualification at stake, any points earned between now and the end of the current campaign are vital.
To that end, the St. James’ Park faithful might be hoping for a repeat of their famous 5-0 victory over Man United back when the likes of Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand were in their pomp.
Certainly, Eddie Howe is bringing the good times back for the Magpies with a style of football not too dissimilar to Kevin Keegan’s swashbucklers.
However, that brilliant 90s side had something that it appears the current squad do not, and that’s someone to get on the end of balls into the box.
Their 39 goals scored this season is comfortably the worst in the Premier League’s top eight, per the official Premier League website.
It isn’t for the want of trying either. As Opta Joe note on Twitter, Kieran Trippier has been supplying the bullets but to no avail.
27 – Kieran Trippier has made more great crosses into the box where there was no one to get on the end of it than any other player in the top flight this season. Forlorn. pic.twitter.com/6cM878KQGz
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 1, 2023
It’s an horrific stat when you realise that if just over half of Trippier’s crosses had been put away by Newcastle’s strikers, that would give Howe’s team the third best goals scored record behind only Arsenal and Man City.
A partisan crowd is to be expected, but at this rate Man United need not fear anything at all from their opponents on Sunday.