Jacob Murphy's best season in a Newcastle shirt continued on Monday night, as he bagged two further goals to scoop the Player of the Match award and prompt questions about whether the winger is in the "form of his life."
Murphy put the Magpies two-nil up within 11 minutes of kick-off at the King Power Stadium, making it the third match in a row that he has directly contributed to a goal following assists v Brentford in the league last week and against Liverpool in the cup final at Wembley.
In the last four months, only Mohammed Salah and our own Alexander Isak have more goal contributions in the Premier League than Murphy's 14, leading to Sky Sports host David Jones commenting that he felt the winger was in the "form of his life."
Murphy's two goals against Leicester City were enough to see him chosen as the supporters' Player of the Match against Leicester City, winning 71% of the vote across newcastleunited.com and the Official Newcastle United App.
"It’s always nice to be putting up numbers," Murphy said to Sky Sports in his post-match interview. "I love assisting and the defensive side as well which I really pride myself on. So there’s been a combination of everything and regardless of what the numbers say I’ll always be content.
"I'm exactly where I need to be, at the back post tapping it in and contributing to the team."
In total, Murphy's 16 goal contributions this season - a figure that includes seven goals and nine assists - matches the previous best season of his career that came with Norwich City in 2016-17.
The first goal of his on Monday saw him get on the end of a cross from Tino Livramento, who himself scooped 23% of the Player of the Match vote, before he was the only one alert to the rebound after Fabian Schär's audacious 55-yard effort came back off the bar.
With no-one around him, Murphy found the ball at his feet ten yards from goal, and after a few attempts at controlling the ball, managed to poke it home to make it two-nil.
"My heart is still going," Murphy laughed after the match. "I thought I was clean through if Fabian passed it - and then he didn’t. I don’t know what made me follow it in but I did and when it hit off the bar I was thinking, ‘ah, first time finish?’ And then it felt like it came back really quickly. It was a bit scary when it came back but by the time I controlled it seven times I managed to sort my feet out and score."
While keen to stay in the present and look forward to a what's set to be a crucial run-in, Murphy also reflected on what's been a surreal two weeks since Newcastle lifted the Carabao Cup.
"The buzz has been unbelievable," Murphy said of the two weeks since that day at Wembley. "The images of the bus tour, it was out of this world. It was such a great day and you can see why the greats get addicted to winning trophies. The feeling it gives you. But now that we’re back training and playing games again you want it again for next season. It was an incredible journey and one we’re incredibly proud of. We want to keep striving for better and want to taste it again.
"[The Champions League] is hugely important for us. We can see other English teams doing well in Champions League this season and we had a taste of that last year. We have eight games to go now, with no other distractions and I think we can put in a real challenge. It’s super tight at the moment, one game it could all change so we need to keep the momentum going and pressure on."
