Alexander Isak fitness update after Newcastle United star ruled out for 10 matches with recurring issue

Alexander Isak scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season as Newcastle United claimed a comfortable 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

It’s the first time a Newcastle player has scored more than 20 goals in a top-flight season since Alan Shearer in 2003-04. Despite missing 10 matches this season due to a recurring groin issue, Isak has been in fine form in front of goal for The Magpies.

Since returning from his latest groin injury, Isak has scored seven goals in his last seven Premier League appearances. He also has 12 goals in his last 15 games for the club since returning to the starting line-up after Christmas.

An injury to Callum Wilson in February has left Isak as Newcastle’s only recognised striker for the past two months, meaning head coach Eddie Howe has had to manage the Swede carefully. And after building his minutes up against Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Isak has now completed 90 minutes in each of Newcastle’s last six competitive games.

“I think he’s very good physically,” Howe said when asked for a fitness update on Isak. “He’s had a difficult schedule. He went away and played two games for Sweden.

“We haven’t got the luxury of taking him off and giving him a rest due to the fact Callum’s not there or the lack of wide options as well because we could use Anthony further forward so I think he has had to go and play the minutes.

“At the moment he looks really good. Of course, we’re trying to manage him between games and make sure he’s there when we need him. So far, so good.”

With 17 Premier League goals, Isak is just three behind top scorers Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer while also boasting the best goal-to-minute ratio in the Premier League this season, averaging a goal every 104 minutes. At just 24-years-old, Isak still has plenty of time to keep improving, something that really excites Howe.

“It’s a difficult question to answer [how good Isak can be] really because I’d never put a level on what he could be at” Howe added. “For me, he’s so exciting to work with and has got so many different aspects to his game that we can try and explain and make better.

“First and foremost he has undoubted qualities that he wants to score goals and needs to score, and that’s a great characteristic for any striker to have. But he also plays for the team, he doesn’t play for himself which is rare.

“You can see him linking play and doing things that the teams need, not just what he needs.”

Newcastle paid a club record £63million for Isak back in 2022 and could stand to make a considerable profit if they were to sell him this summer. But Howe is determined to keep hold of the in-form striker.

“We’re trying to build a team and grow everything upwards and to do that as quickly as possible and efficiently as you can, you need to keep your best players, otherwise you enter a different period where you go into transition and you have to start again,” admitted the Newcastle boss. “Your top players, the elite ones are so difficult to recruit so when we get them we have to try and keep them.”