The 22-year-old has a massive chance to prove his worth over the next few weeks with Dwight Gayle ruled out.
To say Aleksandar Mitrovic has had a difficult season is an understatement. The fact that he scored the winner in only his fifth start of the Championship campaign against Wolves two weeks ago but was hooked at the interval for fears that he was a red card walking rather sums up his Newcastle United career.
In total, the Serbian has only scored four times all season while the fans are slowly starting to run out of patience with his penchant for wild swings and wasted one-on-ones.
Therefore, with top scorer Dwight Gayle ruled out for up to six weeks, meaning he will miss season-defining clashes with Brighton, Huddersfield and Reading, Newcastle may be forced to rely on the supposedly unreliable Mitrovic.
Though does that reputation stand up to scrutiny? Not according to the stats.
Mitrovic’s four league goals have come in just 718 minutes of league action. Therefore, he averages slightly better than a goal every other game.
For what it’s worth, the 22-year-old can boast a better record than Norwich’s Cameron Jerome (192 mins per goal), Aston Villa’s Jonathan Kodjia (192, below), Derby’s Tom Ince (222), Brighton’s Anthony Knockaert (262) and Huddersfield Town’s Premier League-linked Elias Kachunga (279).
Mitrovic may benefit from having some of the league’s most reliable creators providing chances on a platter but, with an extended run in the team, maybe he could finally step out of Gayle’s shadow.
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