Sky Sports expert’s verdict on Newcastle United – I struggle to disagree with any of this | OneFootball

The Sky Sports column ‘Jones Knows’ has given some interesting analysis and commentary on what is currently the position at Newcastle United.

The column makes predictions on what will happen at certain Premier League matches and also debates other matters/issues at clubs as well.

However, unlike the usual ex-pro predictions, that are usually simply based on how ‘big’ a club is and whether or not they won the previous game, this one has proper analysis and insight, not lazy assumptions.

The Sky Sports ‘Jones Knows’ column looks at the matches from a betting perspective and has been concentrating on this Newcastle United game at home to Leicester.

Lewis Jones (who is the Sky Sports expert behind the ‘Jones Knows’ column) has highlighted some major underlying factors that could / should have a big bearing on this Newcastle v Leicester game.

“Conor Coady and Jannik Vestergaard up against Alexander Isak looks a mismatch of epic proportions.

“Surely the Newcastle striker, whose movement and guile completely bamboozled Virgil van Dijk in the Toon’s last home game, is going to prove too sharp and too deadly for the ageing Leicester central pairing to handle.

“Isak comes into the game with six goals in his last seven starts to his name and is the only reliable finisher in a somewhat inconsistent Newcastle frontline.

“Keep it simple and just keep Isak on your side if having a bet in this game.

“The 3/1 first goalscorer, 4/1 for a brace and 16/1 for a hat-trick are all live runners.

“Prediction: Newcastle 3 Leicester 1”

Always interesting to hear what the Sky Sports expert has to say with his analysis on Newcastle United matches and as usual, some good stuff there.

Indeed, I struggle to disagree with any of that.

With his Alexander Isak comments, the Sky Sports expert is very much on the money. Apart from one small error…

The last eight Newcastle United matches, Alexander Isak has scored in six of them, not seven. That includes scoring the very first goal of the match in three of them – Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea (in the cup).

The two ‘failures’ were at Palace when Isak was injured very early on and subbed eventually on 22 minutes, as well as the West Ham home match, where the Sweden international actually scored a brilliant goal inside five minutes. However, VAR found the narrowest offside, as Isak ran from just inside the West Ham half onto a sublime Lewis Hall pass.

Hopefully Newcastle United aren’t totally reliant on Alexander Isak for goals, however, I would certainly not put anybody off taking the advice from the Sky Sports expert to back him to score one or more goals.

I think we are all obviously looking for a big team performance today and if we get that, then surely there will be goals against a Leicester side who have conceded 18 in seven away PL matches so far. Only Wolves have conceded more on their travels, 20 in eight away PL games.

Saturday 14 December – Newcastle v Leicester (3pm)

Wednesday 18 December – Newcastle v Brentford (7.45pm) Sky Sports+ (Carabao Cup)

Saturday 21 December – Ipswich v Newcastle (3pm)

Thursday 26 December – Newcastle v Villa (3pm) Amazon

Monday 30 December – Man U v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 4 January – Tottenham v Newcastle (12.30pm) TNT Sports

Sunday 12 January – Newcastle v Bromley (3pm) BBC iPlayer (FA Cup)

Wednesday 15 January – Newcastle v Wolves (7.30pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 18 January – Newcastle v Bournemouth (12.30pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 25 January – Southampton v Newcastle (3pm)

Saturday 1 February – Newcastle v Fulham (3pm)