Newcastle United will hopefully head into the run in with both of their main strikers fighting fit, with Eddie Howe pleased with what he saw from Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak together during the 5-1 win over Sheffield United.
The latter netted another two goals to take his Premier League tally to 19 for the campaign, just one behind both Chelsea's Cole Palmer and Manchester City's Erling Haaland who are tied at the top of the scoring charts. Wilson came off the bench at St James' Park and also found the net, looking sharp as he works his way back to full fitness.
Howe was quizzed about both men after the thumping win and told reporters he was especially happy with how the duo linked up together. Isak and Wilson are rarely on the pitch at the same time but combined well in the closing stages of Saturday's victory, which is a 'great sign' in Howe's eyes.
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"It was great to see Alex link with Callum at the end. Really good to see them passing to each and having that synergy with each other," the Newcastle boss said in his post-match press conference.
Quizzed further on Wilson's return to fitness, Howe added: "It's really good [to have him back]. I always say when Callum comes back from injury, invariably, he always does the work and that's sometimes very difficult when you're having to do the same things again and attack a spell out, then do the rehab and you know he's got to come back at such a good physical level to score goals.
"But he's done the work. It was a slightly easier this time because it was an upper limb injury. So he's done a lot of running. I had no doubt he'd look really good and I thought he looked great today when he came on.
"He probably could have scored more than the one he did but the one he did get was an incredible finish. And as I said earlier, to see him and Alex link up the way they did and to see how threatening they were on the pitch together is a great sign for us."
Wilson has missed huge chunks of the tricky campaign, first with two separate hamstring problems, then a calf issue and most recently a pectoral problem. Newcastle have four top flight games remaining as they hunt a European finish, with the forward hoping to finish the season with a flurry before the European Championships in the summer.
