Eddie Howe saw what Alexander Isak did that means Newcastle United goals will flow

Alexander Isak can carry the 'burden' of being Newcastle United's star striker - and Eddie Howe is confident he will end his barren spell sooner rather than later.

The Swedish frontman has only one goal to his name in black-and-white so far this season, a stark contrast to last term when he plundered 24 goals for the club. A broken toe has hampered his gametime, but he returned to the side against Brighton last weekend and would be frustrated not to get on the scoresheet.

The 25-year-old was denied by Seagulls goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen after being played through by Bruno Guimaraes and saw second-half efforts blocked. However, Howe has no doubts the goals will soon start to flow for his main striker.

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"He knows the burden of being the No 9. At Newcastle, you do carry an extra weight with that. but I think he's done that brilliantly since he's been here and we need to support him and give him chances. I think he had seven shots last week, so that was a good return and I'd back him if he's having seven shots every week that he's going to score a lot of goals for us."

Newcastle have not scored in their last two Premier League games, and have one one goal from open to play in their last five in all competitions, with Fabian Schar and Anthony Gordon finding the net from the penalty spot against AFC Wimbledon and Manchester City respectively.

However ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash at Chelsea, Howe remains confident that his side will find their killer touch in the final third, after creating several big chances against Everton and Brighton.

"The Brighton game, I was really pleased with our attacking output bar the finish or the last pass," he added. "I think we've had 60-odd shots in four games. We should have scored; we haven't.

"I've been through very similar periods many times before. Sometimes there's a reason for it, sometimes it just happens. But you have to back the players that we have to score goals. We have some outstanding attacking players within our squad."