With all eyes on Manchester United having sacked manager Erik ten Hag, Newcastle's poor form seems to be going unnoticed.
After 9 rounds of the Premier League this season, the "Magpies" have won 3, drawn 3 and lost 3. They are currently 12th in the rankings and are only 1 point ahead of Man United. And the problem of both teams is basically the same: they cannot score.
After a disappointing 2023-24 campaign, Newcastle head into this season with a lot of uncertainty. Under pressure from Premier League rules on profitability and sustainability, they have not had many quality additions to their squad.
Even the "Magpies" had to let two promising young players - Elliot Anderson (21 years old) and Yankuba Minteh (19 years old) - leave with regret. On the contrary, they only added full-back Lewis Hall from Chelsea after a season playing on loan.
Newcastle's squad is extremely fragile after being hit hard by injuries last season, and now five players who made 97 appearances between them last season - including Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier - are out injured.
However, the biggest headache for coach Eddie Howe at the moment is finishing. They are a patient attacking side, ranked 16th in shots per possession but second in xG per shot (0.19).
They also top the table for the percentage of shots coming from inside the box (77%). But while this generates an average of 1.6 xG per game (10th in the league), they only average 1 actual goal.
Before his injury, Gordon, along with Isak and Joelinton, scored five goals from 49 shots, worth 8.5 xG. If you exclude some great finishes from Harvey Barnes (three goals from shots, worth 2 xG), Newcastle's entire squad converted less than half their xG into actual goals.
Newcastle will host Arsenal at St. James' Park in the earliest match of round 10 of the Premier League. Facing a broken defense of The Gunners, this will be an opportunity for Newcastle's strikers to find inspiration again. Of course, Eddie Howe also needs to be very careful about the attacking power of the away team.
The match between Newcastle and Arsenal takes place at 7:30 p.m. on November 2 (Vietnam time).
