'Isak has ice in his veins amidst red-hot scoring form'
"Gimme, gimme, gimme a striker from Sweden. He's our number 14 and he plays in attack. Gimme, gimme, gimme a striker from Sweden. First name's Alexander and his surname's Isak" - sung to the tune of ABBA's Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
This was just a flavour of the soundtrack provided by a group of Newcastle fans which accompanied part of my train journey back from the north east on Saturday.
Newcastle have one of the best strikers in the world, and, understandably, the supporters are happy he belongs to them.
Prior to his 26th-minute equaliser against Sheffield United, Isak hadn't really had a sniff of the goal. However, like all great marksmen, he needed just one chance to demonstrate his elite status.
As I referenced in my Match of the Day commentary, the gangly number 14 has ice in his veins amidst red-hot scoring form.
Isak now has 29 goals in 48 appearances for the club and, since his Premier League arrival in August 2022, Erling Haaland is the only current player (yes, we see you Harry Kane) with a better goal-to-minutes ratio.
Rather fittingly, the race for the golden boot this season could be decided between the two Scandinavians.
When Eddie Howe was asked in his post-match news conference if he would swap Isak for anyone else in the world right now, he said: "No, I wouldn't". It was an understandable instant reply.
His 19 Premier League goals this season is the most by a Newcastle player in a single top-flight campaign since Alan Shearer bagged 22 goals two decades ago.
Howe and the club's ownership will know that, even if they do qualify for the Europa League, there will be plenty of Champions League sides who will look to tempt the striker away this summer.
During a week where it was confirmed Bruno Guimaraes has a £100m release clause in his contract, you would expect it is a similar figure, if not further north, for the Swedish international.
