Newcastle United goalscorer preview – Leon Best

Roll back a few months and goalscoring was not an issue for Newcastle United as they had the bright new thing of England wearing their number nine shirt and finding the back of the net on a regular basis.

But after Andy Carroll shocked Magpies fans by leaving for Liverpool for a hyper-inflated fee of £35 million, things do not look quite so rosey for Newcastle.

They have struggled to finish teams off in recent weeks and that means five of their last eight games have been draws, and they have only tasted victory in one of nine.

If you look at the statistics, Carroll remains the joint top-scorer for Newcastle, level with midfielder Kevin Nolan on 11 goals for the season.

Next up comes Shola Ameobi (11/2 to score first goal versus Stoke), a striker who has shown over a long period at St James' Park to be capable but not an earthmover.

While he has struggled with injury, Leon Best has taken on the burden of main goal threat and the former Southampton and Coventry man has scored three times in his last five games for Newcastle.

That only takes him to six goals for the season, with the other three coming in one game when he banged in a hat-trick against West Ham, but Best (7/1 to open the scoring versus Stoke on Saturday) is still learning the Premier League and possibly not a lot should be expected from him.

But when the other attacking options are the inconsistent Peter Lovenkrands, the inexperienced Nile Ranger and the veteran Shefki Kuqi – whose signing was met with some contempt among Newcastle fans – then it comes down on the shoulders of Ameobi and Best to score the goals to preserve Newcastle's top flight status.

They may be sitting in mid-table but are only five points clear of the bottom three and, with six of their remaining eight games against clubs battling relegation, it is going to be a tough few months.

The old adage states 'goals win games' and Newcastle are going to need goals, and fast. Best, who made his Republic of Ireland debut earlier this year, has only played 23 games in a black and white shirt as his career in the north-east has been stalled with a cruciate injury during pre-season and his season only really started in January.

He needs to learn and develop in the Premier League at a fast rate and hope the likes of Nolan (17/2 to score first against Stoke), Steven Ireland and Joey Barton can chip in with goals from midfield as he leads the line and takes on the majority of the goalscoring burden.

Newcastle may not have the most star-studded strike force in the Premier League but Best and Ameobi should give them enough strength to survive. What surely has to be motivation for those two is the fact Alan Pardew still has the money from the sale of Carroll burning his pocket.

Bagging a few goals before this season ends and securing Newcastle's Premier League future would put Best well and truly in Pardew's plans, and possibly persuade him he does not need a multi-million buy to take his place up front.