Paul Merson has had his say ahead of Fulham’s trip to St. James Park this weekend, although he couldn’t resist discussing a couple of potential moves for certain Mag at the end of his prediction.
Newcastle must regain the form that saw us win nine on the spin before that 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth two weeks ago, with us coming into today’s game after a 3-1 win at Southampton last weekend.
It won’t be easy today – Fulham have lost just one of their last seven away gams – and it’s an important match ahead of a tough run of upcoming fixtures in February, yet Merson couldn’t help himself but debate where Isak may end up.
Merson prediction ends with Isak…again
Merson’s prediction for Newcastle vs Fulham is a tight home victory…and that Arsenal would win the league with Alexander Isak, while Chelsea would secure a top four if they signed the Swede.
That isn’t even an exaggeration of his preview. “Newcastle certainly have a bit more quality within their ranks” is pretty much a summary of his analysis of Eddie Howe’s Champions League-chasings Mags before he moves on to Isak.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, where he predicts every Premier League game each weekend, he had this to say:
“I watched Fulham the other day and I must admit I was disappointed. They did not show their true colours and let Manchester United off the hook in that game. In my opinion, they could have easily gotten a point and may look back at that loss as a missed opportunity.
“Despite Fulham flattering to deceive in the last game, they will still make life very difficult for Newcastle. This game could go either way, but Newcastle certainly have a bit more quality within their ranks.
“We’re talking about the best centre-forward in the league right now in Alexander Isak. His goals and contributions have been mightily impressive. The thing with Isak is that he is consistently good. Some players score 10 goals in 10 games and there would have been two hat-tricks in there. But Isak is someone who scores in every single game and that makes him the best out there.
“There is no doubt that all the top clubs will want to sign him. With Financial Fair Play (FFP) also coming into the picture, it will be interesting to see if Newcastle can hold on to him. If Arsenal signed Isak, I would be shocked if they don’t end up winning the Premier League. The same goes for Chelsea, it will seal that top four place and take them to the next level!
“Prediction: Newcastle United 2-1 Fulham”
Big game before tough run
Newcastle forward Isak may well fancy his chances against a Fulham defence that has conceded eight in their last five with Marco Silva’s side suffering a slight dip in form.
A strong showing is required by Eddie Howe’s men to settle the nerves against a massive semi-final second leg against Arsenal where our defence must not suffer a Bournemouth-esque to maintain our two goal advantage.
Birmingham then beckons for our fourth round FA Cup tie before a season defining run of Premier League games where confidence needs to be high.
Trips to the Etihad and Anfield either side of Nottingham Forest’s trip to St James’ Park have massive ramifications for our top four hopes – especially if we want to keep Isak!!
Yet Downie from Sky thinks we are just daft geordies that are suggesting their staff are being disrespectful to Nufc by continually trying to disrupt our team proposing moves to the cartel clubs. These so called expert pundits should be reprimanded, but of course that would never happen. We are this little club from up north who are not allowed to have good players disrupting the natural way how the PL works.
Kiddafromthetoon(Quote)
Used disrupt too much, could have been another word🤬
Kiddafromthetoon(Quote)
What I find interesting is that fans complain if pundits don’t rate our players, then they complain again when they do!
Daveys **** mate(Quote)