\n<\/p>\n
On the corresponding weekend last season, Isak scored for Newcastle United<\/a> in a win that relegated Ipswich Town.<\/a><\/p>\n It was his 26th goal of a successful season that would help propel Eddie Howe’s side into the Champions League.<\/p>\n He ended the campaign with 27, and a little over three months later joined Liverpool<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I want to create history,” said Isak, after an acrimonious move before which he had trained away from Newcastle<\/a>‘s first-team squad.<\/p>\n “I want to win trophies. This is the perfect place for me to grow even further and take my game to the next level.”<\/p>\n Yet that dream move has turned into something of a nightmare for both player and club.<\/p>\n Isak suffered a serious ankle injury in December<\/a> that included a fractured fibula.<\/p>\n Prior to that he had been starting in place of Hugo Ekitike, who many fans thought deserved to be selected. There were suggestions Liverpool<\/a> were struggling to fit Isak into their system.<\/p>\n Four months later, he is still a shadow of the player he was last season and has still to complete a full 90 minutes in a Liverpool<\/a> shirt.<\/p>\n Against Palace he had 18 touches and registered one attempt, from which he scored, before being replaced by Ryan Gravenberch in the 79th minute.<\/p>\n He has now played 1,009 minutes for Liverpool<\/a> – well down on the 3,319 he managed for Newcastle<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n But Martin Keown, a pundit on Saturday’s Match of the Day, believes there could be brighter days ahead for Isak.<\/p>\n “It’s been a long time coming for someone who cost a British record transfer fee,” said three-time Premier League winner Keown.<\/p>\n “But that feeling of celebrating with the home fans is something for him to build on. Isak showed us a little bit of what we thought we’d see from the start of the season.<\/p>\n “If Liverpool<\/a> can get him fully fit and back to the form he showed at Newcastle<\/a>, then clearly he’s an outstanding player – and someone the club will still have big expectations for.<\/p>\n “With Mohamed Salah leaving in the summer<\/a> and Hugo Ekitike likely to miss the rest of the calendar year,<\/a> the Reds are going to need him back to his best.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n