Newcastle star has Chelsea point to prove and fires Liam Rosenior warning

Newcastle United will be determined to climb into the top half of the Premier League table this weekend

Anthony Gordon has a point to prove when Newcastle United face Chelsea this weekend. The 25-year-old forward will be looking to silence his critics when the Magpies take on Liam Rosenior's side at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon.

Gordon has struggled to impress so far in the Premier League this season, scoring just four goals and providing only two assists in 23 games. The England international hasn't managed to drag Newcastle out of the bottom half of the table, but he has relished a talismanic role in the Champions League.

Although the Magpies have played more games, having been forced to qualify for the knockout stages via the play-offs, Gordon only trails Kylian Mbappe in the race for the golden boot with 10 goals. He failed to add to his tally when Barcelona salvaged a draw at St. James' Park in the first leg of the last-16 on Tuesday night.

Interestingly, the Englishman was brought off the bench midway through the second half; as was Tino Livramento and Jacob Murphy, perhaps in preparation for the trip to west London. Nevertheless, in interview with the club's official matchday programme, Gordon outlined his desire to lay down a marker.

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"I think overall it's my best season, in terms of statistics, performances, maturity," said the Newcastle star, who's scored two goals and provided three assists in 11 games against Chelsea. "Listen, your football career is a pyramid.

"Every level you get to, the perception of you changes. All of a sudden now, if we lose as a team, people look at me first - which is fine, that's natural, that's how life goes, you get better, people want to see more from you.

"Whereas two years ago, when I had that great season, if we lost a game, no one would have looked at me. People would have looked at Bruno [Guimaraes], [Kieran] Tripps, Callum Wilson. That changes.

"I play for England now, people view me differently, so they have different expectations, which do distort reality. So what I said was true. I feel like I'm in the form of my life, performance-wise and statistically."

Gordon has often featured as a centre-forward this season. On how he's tweaked his game, the Englishman added: "Another point is I do play differently now.

"I don't maybe run around like a headless chicken as much as I did when I was young and naïve and enthusiastic. That's through maturity, that's through 'actually, I don't need to do that as much'.

"I need to help the team in a different way, be a bit smarter. Because a lot of times backs in the day when I'd do these lung-busting runs, they'd just pop around me and I'd have to run back and I'd be tired and I'd come off earlier in games.

"So I think adapting to a new style of play, trying to be more smart, more efficient, and through fans viewing me differently, perception has been distorted a lot this year, but I don't care.

"I know who I am, I don't need other people's opinion of me to be the same as mine."

Rosenior will hope the Chelsea defenders can keep Gordon at bay this weekend...

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