"Hell of a player!" - Neville hails Toon star and explains Howe's edge over Liverpool & Chelsea

Gary Neville has hailed Newcastle United and star striker Alexander Isak following the opening weekend of Premier League fixtures.

After watching our 5-1 win over Aston Villa and Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Sunday, he believes we currently look the best side of all three. Chelsea and Liverpool had their moments yesterday, but both looked far more open and erratic than Eddie Howe's all-action Mags.

Neville has hailed our power, pressing, strong defence and quality in attack, describing Isak as one "hell of a player" after he kicked off the new campaign with a clinical brace at St James' Park.

The former Man Utd full-back also believes our devastating win over Villa was a real statement, feeling few teams will blow away Unai Emery's side as we did on Saturday.

Speaking to Sky Sports after Liverpool's draw at Stamford Bridge, he said:

“I actually looked at Newcastle last night in that 5.30pm game last night and you look at these two teams here today [Liverpool and Chelsea] and you think, obviously they’ve got the Champions League to contend with, but they’re in a better spot currently.

“Currently as we stand here now [they’re better] than these two teams and these two teams have spent an absolute shed load of money compared to Newcastle.

“They’re a powerful team, they’re all over you like a rash. They’re good defensively, they’ve got power. They’ve got quality, they’ve got a great striker; Isak looks like a hell of a player.

“Newcastle beat Aston Villa as well as anyone will be them this season - I don’t see Villa losing too many games like that.”