Newcastle news: Opinion – Burn and Murphy in underrated XI

As the dust settles on this Premier League campaign, we asked former England international Fara Williams for her underrated XI for the season.

She selected two players who have represented Newcastle this year.

Dan Burn

There are players around Dan Burn in the Newcastle squad who are more glamourous and will be spoken about far more than he is. But, there are very few, if any, that the fans love more. I think he gets close to a best Premier League XI this season which seems crazy given when many would not have believed he would still even be at the club at this stage in their development.

Burn knows his role and place in Eddie Howe’s side perfectly and is one of the most consistent and committed performers in the league. He knows his limitations as well so adjusts position to minimise the risk of him being run at with space behind him. His goal in the Carabao Cup final will be one of the defining moments of this English football season for me.

Jacob Murphy

I heard early on this season Newcastle fans on the radio saying Murphy is a player that’s not good enough to play in this team if they are to achieve big things.

A player of his ability can go one way or the other – they can get found out and struggle to play for the team again or they really lift their levels and show that they have the capabilities to step up into the role.

Murphy has certainly been able to do that and the relationship he’s got with Alexander Isak has been one of the reasons why Newcastle have gone on the run that secured a Champions League spot.

His assist record this year has been seriously impressive and he’s added some key goals to that as well.

Fara Williams was speaking to BBC Sport’s Nat Hayward