Nobody encapsulates the stark contrast between last season’s surprise package and the struggling Newcastle side we see before us this term more than the Senegalese striker. Cisse’s 13 league goals in 14 games, including an absolute corker of a strike at Stamford Bridge, helped propel the Magpies to an unlikely fifth-placed finish in the league last term, helping pick up the slack left by the misfiring Demba Ba at the same time. Fast forward to this season, though, and the 27-year-old can’t hit a barn door with only four goals in 21 league appearances to date after being shunted out wide. If Alan Pardew’s French-inspired side are to pull away from the drop zone in the coming months, he needs to do much, much better.
