‘The most exciting since Shearer’ – Newcastle debutant included in Premier League 3pm winners & losers

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In a Premier League basement battle and a fight for seventh, Newcastle beat relegation rivals Huddersfield 2-0, while Bournemouth and Wolves played out a 1-1 stalemate.

After Huddersfield were reduced to 10 men following a straight red to Tommy Smith, Newcastle made light work of the Terriers, scoring twice in the second-half through Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez.

Meanwhile, Wolves clawed back against the Cherries to snatch a draw on the South Coast after Raul Jimenez’s 83rd minute penalty cancelled out Josh King’s first-half spot kick.

And so, on an unusually quiet afternoon of Premier League 3pm kick-offs, who were the winners and losers?

Winner: Miguel Almiron

The £20m man made a cameo appearance against Wolves a fortnight ago, but the travelling Toon Army were only afforded a brief 18-minute glimmer of his potential, but he made his home introduction this afternoon and left those on Tyneside in awe.

There was an doubt surrounding Almiron upon his arrival last month as to whether the former Atlanta United midfielder would be capable of making a fluid transition from Major League Soccer to the hurly-burly of top-flight English football.

On evidence of today’s performance, he could go on to etch his name in Geordie folklore, such was his influence on proceedings: drawing the decisive foul which sent Smith off, hitting the woodwork with a scintillating chip, and running riot with the ball at his feet.

Newcastle fans have a penchant for talismanic figures, and Almiron will evoke fond memories of the sort of creativity and flair some of his South American predecessors used to provide St James’ Park, with Nobby Solano and Faustino Asprilla springing to mind.

But it is not just that, no Newcastle player has created more chances in a single Premier League game since the start of last season than Miguel Almir0n vs. Huddersfield (6), with some even comparing him to legend Alan Shearer.

Winner: Joshua King

King was a continuous thorn in Wolves’ side this afternoon, attacking with elan and spearheading with lung-busting runs from box-to-box. This was a tireless and quite brilliant performance from Norway international, late penalty miss excluding.

Dovetailing behind sole striker Dominic Solanke, King was a real nuisance and it wouldn’t take long before his presence was felt, winning his side a penalty in the 14th minute after enticing Joao Moutinho into making a foul, before converting the resulting penalty.

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The goal ensured King has now scored in three consecutive home matches, which is the first time he has achieved that feat during his entire Bournemouth career – he netted a brace against Chelsea in the last home fixture, and one against West Ham before that.

He has now bettered his league tally from last season and taken his Premier League record for the Cherries to 40 goals, 11 higher than the club’s next highest ever goalscorer in the division: Callum Wilson.

The only blemish on his afternoon – albeit a very substantial blemish – was his failure to score a late penalty which would have won the match for Bournemouth.

Loser: Tommy Smith

When your side are slogging it out in at the foot of the table, a cool head is required, but Smith seemed to forget that mantra when he lunged into Newcastle’s record signing with just 20 minutes on the clock.

Almiron’s initial touch was shocking, which presented Smith the opportunity intercept the Paraguayan, but the right-back was over enthusiastic and he slid in with a Lee Cattermole-esque fervour, plunging his studs into the midfielder.

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Referee Kevin Friend had little option than brandish the Terriers’ captain a straight red card, and from there Jan Siewert had a mountain to climb; this was always going to be a difficult task for the German, but his skipper made that task all the more arduous.

Huddersfield are currently rooted in 20th and they are increasingly running out of time to haul themselves out of the deep relegation mire they find themselves in. Following the sending off, Huddersfield have now picked up the joint-most red cards in the league this season (four).

Loser: Jan Siewert

Having taken the helm last month, the former Borussia Dortmund II manager has not yet had the desired effect to really alleviate current frustrations presiding over West Yorkshire, losing all four matches he has overseen.

The latest defeat on Tyneside will come as the most significant blow so far, with the club firmly locked in a basement battle against Rafa Benitez’s side, but it was the Spaniard who took the spoils, devastating a crestfallen 10-man Huddersfield.

The German tactician arrived in England with much-anticipation, such has been the impact of his Dortmund predecessors on English soil: David Wagner and  Norwich City’s Daniel Farke.

Unfortunately Siewert’s task looked near-impossible when he began his reign and it simply looks inconceivable now with 11 matches remaining.

Winner: Salomon Rondon

When Newcastle were willing to allow Aleksandar Mitrovic to leave the club in the summer for newly-promoted Fulham, it looked careless business given his exploits on-loan in west London the season prior, but having recruited Rondon, that transfer now looks irrelevant.

The Venezuelan was not exactly prolific during his time with West Brom, so naturally there was some skepticism on Tyneside, but the 29-year-old proven a priceless commodity, not just for his goals, but his link-up play, aggression and positional awareness.

His goal this afternoon was much-needed with the home fans growing frustrated their side couldn’t break down a resilient Huddersfield, but shortly after the restart Rondon broke the deadlock, ensuring he has now been directly involved in 10+ goals in each of his four Premier League campaigns.

Loser: Roger East

With the match heavily poised entering the dying stages, Roger East took centre stage and awarded Bournemouth a penalty in the 85th minute after Ivan Cavaleiro was adjudged to have fouled Ryan Fraser.

The penalty decision looked slightly controversial as Fraser was fouled outside the box, and after the handball decision against Fulham yesterday and the foul on Josh Murphy for Cardiff against Watford, many will be calling for VAR’s introduction sooner than the start date of next season.

However, King missed the resulting penalty so justice was perhaps done on the afternoon, but didn’t stop East coming under fire for making some questionable decisions.

The post ‘The most exciting since Shearer’ – Newcastle debutant included in Premier League 3pm winners & losers appeared first on Squawka News.



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