2 Newcastle players in Premier League Top 7 with most shots but no goals this season
Only five Premier League clubs have scored less than Newcastle United this season.
The Magpies only managing 11 goals in 12 league matches.
On five occasions Newcastle have failed to register a goal and only on three occasions out of 12 have Rafa’s team managed two goals or better.
This Saturday Newcastle face a Watford side who have scored 12 goals already in away matches, exactly two in each of their six games on the road.
Much has been made of the lack of goals from the NUFC strikers and indeed the front two have only provided five goals (Joselu (2), Perez, Mitrovic, Gayle) so far.
It is fair criticism that the strikers should be scoring more but the midfield also have to start pulling their weight.
The four positions across the middle of the park have only produced three premier league goals (Hayden, Atsu, Merino), the same as defenders have contributed (Lascelles (2), Clark).
Interesting stats published today have shown that two of Newcastle’s midfielders feature in the top seven Premier League players this season, when it comes number of shots without scoring a goal.
Martin Tyler produced these stats for Sky Sports, the 10 Premier League players to have most shots without scoring this season:
30 Tom Ince
27 Nathan Redmond
24 Granit Xhaka
23 Matt Ritchie
22 Andros Townsend
19 Andy Carroll
17 Jonjo Shelvey
17 Yohan Cabaye
16 Robbie Brady
16 Gylfi Sigurdsson
Last season Matt Ritchie got 12 goals in the Championship and Newcastle need him to get onto the scoresheet this time. He has come close on a number of occasions amongst his 23 shots so far, producing a world class save by Begovic and then hitting the Bournemouth keeper’s post. Last season three of his goals came from penalties and so another factor going against the NUFC goals column is the fact Newcastle are yet to be awarded a penalty this time around.
As for Jonjo Shelvey he struck five times last season and is capable of producing the same in the Premier League.
When at Swansea, the midfielder scored 11 goals in 71 starts (plus 8 sub appearances).
Interesting to see such a strong ex-Newcastle influence as well, with Carroll on 19 shots without a goal and Palace pair Townsend & Cabaye having 34 between them without scoring.
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