Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki making an early impression in Premier League

The Norwich City frontman took home August player of the month, scoring five goals in just four matches so far in the 2019-20 Premier League campaign.

Finnish International Teemu Pukki has been firing on all cylinders for the newly promoted Norwich City Canaries, currently sitting second in the league in goals behind only Sergio Aguero. The 29-year old has scored two of his five tallies against Chelsea and Liverpool, with the latter having arguably one of the best back-lines in Europe currently. He then picked apart Newcastle in Matchday two, scoring all three of the Canaries’ goals in their lone victory of the campaign so far over the Magpies. Pukki is the first Norwich City player to ever win a player of the month award, beating out Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, and Sergio Aguero.

The striker signed with Norwich City last summer and since his arrival, he has been an absolute goal-scoring machine, netting 34 goals in just 47 appearances. Along with his five goals this year, Pukki also has one assist. He was named the Championship player of the year last season and was also named to the Norwich City player of the year by the Canaries supporters. No one heard much about Pukki because he had previously spent a long stint playing in Denmark for Brondby, but he has been a ruthless finisher his entire career on both the club and international level. Across 203 appearances throughout his club career, Pukki has bagged an impressive 117 goals.

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On the international stage for Finland, he’s scored 20 times in just 76 appearances. In 2019 alone, Pukki has netted five goals in just six appearances.

This is the season though where he can seriously put himself on the map as one of the top scorers in Europe if he can continue to find the back of the net at a high rate in the Premier League, regardless of how Norwich City does as a club.

Consistently on target

Pukki has been very accurate with his attempts on the net this season, hitting the target 11 of the 14 times he’s taken shots. Across both club and country competitions since the start of last year, Pukki has 43 goals and 11 assists in 62 appearances. Often, players that come up from the Championship have a difficult time adjusting to life in the top flight, but it hasn’t seemed to phase Pukki one bit. He looks as sharp as ever, scoring goals from all over. He has an extremely quick release, scoring several of his goals this year by simply getting off a shot in minimal time, catching opposing keepers off guard.

Pukki doesn’t necessarily have outstanding pace, but his feel for the game and ability to be in the right place at the right time by making the correct runs in behind are what makes him so effective up front. He is without a doubt the heartbeat of Norwich City’s attack, proving early on to be one of the most productive finishers in the Premier League.

He is one of the biggest reasons the Canaries were even promoted to the Premier League after scoring a league-best 28 goals last season in the Championship.

He may not have a decorated resume, but the numbers speak for themselves. Teemu Pukki has proven year after year to be a lethal finisher and now he’s now doing it in arguably the best league in the world. Even though he is 29-years old, the possibilities are endless. If he can continue to score at this high rate, there is even the chance that a bigger club in England could snatch him up.

It will be exciting to see if Pukki can continue this hot start to his Premier League career.