Any doubts about Newcastle United's quality have been extinguished by a run of October form that has led to six wins from seven matches in all competitions.
Newcastle are making headway in the Champions League and have set themselves back on track in the Premier League with a last-minute winner against Fulham at the weekend. St. James' Park roared, and then cheers in concert once again when Tottenham Hotspur were dumped from the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening.
Nick Woltemade celebrates for Newcastle
Still, Eddie Howe's side are hardly firing on all cylinders, and that especially applies to the final third. However, Nick Woltemade has been nothing but brilliant since completing his club-record £69m transfer over from Stuttgart in August, and the German striker is spearheading the fight for silverware and retention of this seat at the top European table.
Woltemade's prolific start at Newcastle
Woltemade's crisp header to seal the victory over Tottenham marked his sixth of the campaign, just 11 matches into his Newcastle career.
Alexander Isak's record-breaking transfer to Liverpool felt like it could have a detrimental effect on the Toon project, but Newcastle have kept on moving forward, with the rangy centre-forward dovetailing into the system.
He loves a header, the German does, but that's hardly the full scope of his game. Lanky at 6 foot 6, Woltemade has no right to be as technically graceful and intuitive in the tight spaces as he is, ranking among the top 9% of positional peers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for successful take-ons and the top 5% for shot-creating actions per 90.
Shot-creating actions are pieces of play that lead to a shot. These include moments such as a pass, take-on or foul being drawn.
And yet he is mesmerising when on the ball. BBC Sport analyst Raj Chohan has even said that "there's no striker on the planet who moves the ball like Woltemade."
Woltemade-Newcastle
With this in mind, the Tyneside frontline should be firing on all cylinders, but this isn't the case. Anthony Gordon is seemingly saving his best displays for the continental front at the moment, while Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy make up solid, if unspectacular, parts of the unit.
But there's another man who has left much to be desired, and must be frustrated with his tough start to life in black and white as Woltemade thrives beside him.
The Newcastle star being saved by Woltemade
How often have we seen a player struggle to impress after switching clubs in the Premier League? It's not an uncommon experience, to be sure.
And for Anthony Elanga, this is the reality as he still searches for his first direct goal involvement as a Magpie, having joined Newcastle from Nottingham Forest for £55m in August, one year after Howe's first bid to snatch him from Evangelos Marinakis.
Newcastle's Anthony Elanga-1
It's been an inauspicious start to life in Howe's squad, it must be said. Elanga has played 14 times in all competitions and has yet to register a goal or an assist.
Still, the Sweden international is one of the fastest players in the Premier League, and while his playmaking success has dried up of late, he ranks among the top 8% of positional peers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for assists per 90.
And there's a good reason that the big bucks were spent on his signature. For Nottingham Forest, the 23-year-old was a menace, with his fleet-footedness and tendency to directly take on his man playing to the strengths of Howe's counter-attacking system.
However, deeper statistical analysis would suggest that even across his two terms with the Tricky Trees, Elanga left something to be desired. He is not the most active in taking on his opponent, despite his pace, and does not dribble with the intensity of frequency that perhaps his physique suggests is within his capacity.
Elanga in the Premier League for Forest
Stats (* per game)
Matches (starts)
Goals
Assists
Shots (on target)*
Pass completion
Key passes*
Big chances created
Dribbles*
Tackles + interceptions*
Duels (won)*
Data via Sofascore
With just four Premier League starts in a Newcastle shirt this season, it's perhaps premature to analyse the data on a wider scale, but we can observe that Elanga is currently averaging only 1.8 successful duels per game, completing just 18% of his dribbles besides.
With a nominal amount of shots unleashed each game and not a big chance yet created, it's not difficult to see why he's struggling.
But Elanga needs only take a leaf from Anthony Gordon's book. After all, the Three Lions star flattered to deceive after completing a £45m transfer from Everton in January 2023, then clicking into gear in 2023/24, winning the Newcastle Player of the Year award after posting 11 goals and ten assists in the top flight.
Gordon has yet to fully spread his wings this season, but he's tenacious and talented and undoubtedly the focal point out wide for Newcastle. Elanga will use him as inspiration.
Now, Gordon is one of the most prominent wingers in the Premier League, seemingly Thomas Tuchel's preferred pick on the Three Lions' left flank as the 2026 World Cup looms ever closer.
While Elanga's sticky form continued with a 6/10 display against Tottenham, as noted by the Shields Gazette, there is a wide recognition of the winger's talent, and he will improve as he continues to develop under Howe's wing.
Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon
This is all to say that fans would be silly to give up on Elanga after only a few months at St. James' Park. There's a real player in there, a star who the club scouted extensively.
Perhaps he's mimicking a former version of Gordon, but if that is the case, then the best is yet to come.