Impressive Jamaal Lascelles Drives Newcastle United Up The Table

Impressive Jamaal Lascelles Drives Newcastle United Up The Table
09:48, 21 Sep 2017

It was another captain’s performance by Jamaal Lascelles at the weekend as the centre-back again scored the winning goal for Newcastle United, this time against Stoke. The previous week, the Magpies skipper powered in a header in the dying embers of the 1-0 win at Swansea before repeating the feat against the Potters.

Newcastle have won their last three Premier League matches following their return to England’s top tier after a slow start to the season and of the nine points they’ve now gained, Lascelles’ goals have earned four. It’s not bad for a player who scored three goals in the Championship last season.

After being relegated to the bench for the opening weekend loss to Tottenham, although called into action early on due to injury to Paul Dummett, to 23-year-old has unsurprisingly consolidated a regular first team spot under Rafa Benitez once more. Lascelles played a key role in Newcastle’s return to the Premier League and having played sporadically in his debut campaign in the top-flight of English football, the defender is doing all he can to make sure he realises his immense potential as the Magpies’ strive to stave off relegation.

His good form has also brought about talk of a potential England call-up for next month’s meetings with Slovenia and Lithuania. While Lascelles rarely featured for the under 21 side, his mature performances at the heart of the Newcastle defence suggests there could be a spot in Gareth Southgate’s squad when he announces his selections ahead of the World Cup qualifiers. With England effectively guaranteed a place in Russia, bar a colossal slip up in their final two games of their group, there’s a chance for Southgate to experiment with his lineup.

Southgate called up six centre-backs for his most recent England squad, yet of those six, only three – Gary Cahill, Phil Jones and John Stones – can justify their selection for the upcoming squad. Michael Keane’s form has nosedived since his move to Everton, Chris Smalling is out of favour at Manchester United under Jose Mourinho while Harry Maguire failed to even make the matchday squad in wins over Malta and Slovakia earlier this month. Indeed, there is as good a chance as any for Lascelles to capitalise on the latter trio’s respective circumstances to secure a place in the squad.

He is not the only centre-back who is warranting of international recognition under Southgate, with Swansea star Alfie Mawson also deserving of a look in, but Lascelles is certainly one whose performances justify a look in. His leadership qualities have improved significantly under the tutelage of Benitez and it’s another facet to his game that would benefit the national team. Factor in his notable reading of the game and athleticism, both of which were exhibited at the Liberty Stadium where Lascelles rushed back to deny Tammy Abraham an open goal having rounded Rob Elliot, and a place for England wouldn’t be such a stretch.

Lascelles is fifth for clearances (30) of English players in the Premier League this season, highlighting a knack for being in the right place at the right time to alleviate pressure on the Newcastle goal and it’s the lengths he goes to to ensure opponents struggle to carve out chances that rapidly endeared him to Newcastle fans following his arrival from Nottingham Forest. After breaking through the ranks for Forest, Lascelles’ game has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, so much so that Chelsea were linked with a move for the young defender at the turn of the year.

After netting the winner against Stoke, the defender’s mum tweeted: “Costing me a fortune, from his academy days at nffc, it’s always been a fiver a goal.” I doubt she’ll mind too much if his goals secure him a place in the England squad and while the goals will likely dry up over the coming weeks, Lascelles has perhaps done enough defensively to earn international recognition next month.

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