Newcastle United star Anthony Gordon has admitted to making a "slow start" to the 2024/25 season but he is determined to end the campaign in his best form.

The £45million man reported back to training after an extended rest period following the European Championships in Germany last summer. Gordon has just four goals to his name this year and knows he has work to do if he is to match or better his 13-goal tally from last season.

However, he is starting to get back to his best and his scorching strike that left Argentina World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez beaten all ends up demonstrated he was enjoying his football in a black and white shirt. As Newcastle climbed to fifth in the Premier League table and started putting pressure on the top four after hammering Aston Villa, Gordon feels his side are hitting form at just the right time.

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Gordon told reporters after the goal and the 3-0 win over Aston Villa: "Even my individual form, I said at the start of the season, I started quite slow. But it doesn't matter. No one remembers the start of the season. All people remember is how you finish.

"And I think we're heating up and we're getting into a good vein of form at the right time because the league starts shaping at the end of the Christmas period. So I think we've got two massive games coming up and if we can get good results in them, it puts us in really good stead."

Gordon's goal came with 80 seconds on the clock against Villa and just days after Alexander Isak registered the opener at Ipswich Town with just 26 seconds gone. The Newcastle forward now hopes that it can become a trademark for the black and whites in the remainder of the season.

He said: "Early goals being scored again. It's such a good psychological effect on the game. It puts them right on the back foot. But I think it helps the way we play.

"If we can score first and they start passing backwards and then we can press, press the keeper, get the crowd involved. It's going to be a really difficult task to win us from that moment on. So, yeah, I hope we keep scoring early."