During Newcastle’s stunning 11-minute destruction of Nottingham Forest, Alexander Isak claimed an impressive bit of Premier League history.
The striker scored two of the Magpies four goals between the 23rd and 34th minutes of the match at St. James’ Park – and set a new record for his country in an eventual 4-3 win.
Isak’s first of two was history-making[/caption]
The two efforts made it 50 in 76 English top flight games for Isak, who is now the league’s all-time top scoring Swede.
Entering the match level with Arsenal great Freddie Ljungberg, he went ahead with a penalty smashed down the middle of the goal, and then another dink, leaving Forest’s Matz Sels fuming.
Reaching half a century, the 25-year-old became the seventh-fastest player to do so, with his 76 games fewer than big names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero.
The Stockholm native is now on 19 league goals this season, with only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah boasting more on 24.
His goals came among an astonishing flurry from Newcastle who looked like they may be in trouble after going 1-0 down early.
Callum Hudson-Odoi opened the scoring in the eighth minute as an out-of-position and returning Nick Pope may have caused some concern among his defenders.
Yet Lewis Miley hit back in the 23rd minute before Jacob Murphy’s go-ahead goal and Isak’s double.
Forest staged a late show in a bonkers match, with Nikola Milenkovic’s goal making things interesting in the 63rd minute before Ryan Yates cut the score to 4-3 in the final minute.
However, the hosts held on, and secured a huge win given their recent form.
Newcastle have lost 4-1 to Bournemouth, 2-1 to Fulham and 4-0 to Manchester City in their last four games, setting them back in the race for European football.
Fastest to 50 Premier League goals
| Rank | Player | Matches |
| 1 | Erling Haaland | 48 |
| 2 | Andy Cole | 65 |
| 3 | Alan Shearer | 66 |
| 4 | Ruud van Nistelrooy | 68 |
| =5 | Mohamed Salah | 72 |
| =5 | Fernando Torres | 72 |
| 7 | Alexander Isak | 76 |
However, the same can be said of Champions League chasers Forest too, given they followed up a 5-0 defeat to Bournemouth by beating Brighton 7-0.
There’s nothing strange about Isak’s form, though, given that he put away 25 goals in 40 games for the Magpies last season.
He’s also already bettered his two assists from 2023/24 with five this term, meaning only Salah, Harry Kane and Omar Marmoush have had more goal contributions than his 24 in Europe’s big five leagues.
Signed from Real Sociedad for a club record £63million in 2022, Isak has proved to be worth every penny for Eddie Howe’s side.
That’s seen him linked to a string of Champions League regulars, but Newcastle aren’t exactly short of cash, and are likely to hold out for a fortune.
Amid winter links to the Emirates it was reported that the Saudi-owned side have put a £150m price tag on the striker, which would eclipse the British record £115m Chelsea paid Brighton for Moises Caicedo in 2023.
