Much was expected of Newcastle United's forward line this season. January signing Miguel Almirón was joined by club-record arrival Joelinton and Allan Saint-Maximin, and there were real hopes that the trio would be able to help Newcastle push higher up the table.
The Magpies may currently sit 11th in the standings, but that is almost entirely down to the goalscoring exploits of their defenders.
In fact, as noted by Opta, seven of Newcastle’s last nine Premier League goals have been scored by defenders, and midfielders have been responsible for the other two strikes on that run.
DeAndre Yedlin, Federico Fernández, Jamaal Lascelles, Jetro Willems and Fabian Schär have all managed to get on the score sheet, while centre-back Ciaran Clark has netted twice in that run against both West Ham United and Bournemouth.
The remaining two strikes came from Jonjo Shelvey and Matty Longstaff, with Newcastle's forwards all struggling to make an impact.
Almirón, Saint-Maximin, Andy Carroll, Yoshinori Muto, Dwight Gayle and Christian Atsu are all yet to score in the Premier League this season, while Joelinton has only managed to find the back of the net once since his £40m move from Hoffenheim during the summer.
The Brazilian is without a goal in his last nine league games but, fortunately, Steve Bruce still had defenders to call upon in search for goals.
Newcastle's tally of 11 goals this season is amongst the lowest in the Premier League, but that has not stopped them from climbing up to 11th in the league table.
Bruce's men are currently on a run of three games without defeat, having picked up back-to-back victories in their last two outings, and they currently sit seven points clear of the relegation zone.
Four of Newcastle's five defeats this season have come against Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester City and Chelsea, so Bruce will be fairly satisfied with his side's haul of 15 points from their 12 games.
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90min
