'First of many': Anthony Elanga reveals his first goal for Newcastle United was straight off the training pitch
Newcastle United's only first-team summer signing so far, Anthony Elanga made his first start for his new club on Sunday in the pre-season friendly against Arsenal over in Singapore.
It took just six minutes for the Sweden international to notch his first goal for the club, albeit somewhat fortuitously.
A cross came in from the right flank from Sandro Tonali, and Elanga swung a right foot at it, but the ball spun up off his own standing foot, wrong-footing David Raya and looping into the far corner of the net.
It was hardly a worldie, but it counts and that's what matters, and it won't have hurt Elanga's confidence one bit.
Anthony Elanga is off the mark for Newcastle United
Speaking to NUFC TV after the game, Elanga was of the mind that it doesn't matter how they go in, while revealing that the cross from Sandro into the middle is something they've been working on in training.
"If you see the way we started off, the patterns of play, it was really nice. It was a great cross from Sandro, something we've been working on in training. So, yeah, it's a great goal.
"It's one of those that, as long as you're in the box, it doesn't matter how you hit it as long as it goes in. It was a great goal, and it's good to get a goal on my first start and hopefully it's the first of many."
Newcastle move on to South Korea after their Singapore adventure
Newcastle are back in action on Wednesday at midday as they take on Team K League in South Korea. The game is set to be played in Suwon, which is where new signing Park Seung-soo just left to join Newcastle.
We expect we'll see our new teenager in action as a way to score some brownie points with the Korean fanbase, who will also get to see their hero Son Heung-min in action at the weekend when Newcastle take on Tottenham.
Hopefully, we'll see more from Anthony Elanga too who is already looking like he's buying into the Eddie Howe style.
