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Opinion

Ayoze Perez the most effective Newcastle striker this season…?

4 years ago
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Ayoze Perez has put a smile on the faces of Newcastle fans.

The Spaniard scoring a hat-trick to lift Newcastle United out of the relegation zone.

A quite remarkable 9-0 away win.

Of course this was for Leicester City on Friday night, the Foxes rampant as the first 12 minutes saw the away side score and Southampton go down to 10 men.

To say the Saints never quite recovered after that, would be understatement of the century.

After 19 minutes it was 4-0 and after 57 minutes 6-0, with Ayoze Perez scoring his third and winning the match ball ahead of Jamie Vardy wo got his own hat-trick completed in the final seconds for a 9-0 final scoreline.

Obviously a little bit of mischief in the title of my article above BUT the goals and performance from Ayoze Perez were/are bound to get Newcastle fans talking.

The hat-trick from the former NUFC striker helping to take his new club to second in the table AND at the same time lift Newcastle to fourth bottom on goal difference.

Of course we had already seen at close quarters what Leicester were capable of when playing against 10 men, Ayoze Perez and the Foxes hammering five past Newcastle four weeks ago. Leicester scored their five goals in the space of 75 minutes that day, the same goals total that Newcastle have managed in 11 weeks of PL football so far this season.

Leicester’s goal rush last night was especially timely, as it comes only two days before the first anniversary of the helicopter crash tragedy at Leicester.

As for Ayoze Perez, only his second ever Premier League hat-trick, the first coming only six months ago against…Southampton. A 3-1 win at St James Park and after Friday night it means Perez has now scored seven PL goals in total against the Saints, almost 20% of his total PL goals (7 of 36).

So was it a major blunder for Mike Ashley to happily bank £30m and to not try and hold on to Ayoze Perez?

Difficult to say at the moment, although certainly Perez is now looking more of a £30m goalscorer/striker than Joelinton is looking a £40m one. Or indeed any other of Newcastle’s attackers so far.

By the end of the season we will have a better idea.

As Newcastle fans well know and Leicester ones have quickly learnt, Ayoze Perez blows very hot and cold.

Last season for example, the former Tenerife player scored 10 goals in his final 16 PL appearances for NUFC, after only two goals in the first 21 appearances last season.

Before last night, Perez had managed only one assist and no goals in his first 10 Leicester appearances (all competitions).

Reality is of course, how much Newcastle fans are/aren’t talking about Ayoze Perez will be decided by how well, or not, the current Newcastle strikers perform.

The only way is up on that front.

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