Munoz, Isak and a need to start fast

[BBC] [Getty Images] Newcastle United supporters will get an early glimpse of Victor Munoz on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season. Only not in the way they once imagined. Rather than walking out in black and white, the forward will be wearing a Liverpool shirt at St James' Park. Liverpool announced they agreed a deal with Osasuna for Newcastle's top target on Thursday night and, less than 24 hours later, the fixture computer has paired Munoz's suitors together. It is not the only sub-plot. This will also be the first time striker Alexander Isak returns to Tyneside since pushing to leave the club for Liverpool last summer. See Newcastle's opening fixtures The atmosphere always tends to be lively when Liverpool visit, but you suspect this meeting on 23 August will be a particularly raucous affair as a result. Who knows how Newcastle will look by then as they respond after losing out on Munoz. It is easy to forget the transfer window has only been officially open for a few days, and it is a World Cup summer, but it feels imperative that Newcastle get the bulk of their business done by the time the season starts. The campaign had already got underway when the majority of Newcastle's signings arrived last summer and, defender Malick Thiaw aside, it took too many too long to settle in. Newcastle can't afford a repeat. A trip to Tottenham Hotspur follows the game against Liverpool before Newcastle host Bournemouth , go to Leeds United and face newly promoted Hull City at St James' Park. Even so early on in the season, this testing run of fixtures will tell us an awful lot and head coach Eddie Howe will be desperate to make a strong start. He needs to, in truth, following such a bruising domestic campaign last year.