Newcastle have finally hit the ground running in the Premier League and recorded their third consecutive victory against a spirited Stoke City side at St James’ Park on Saturday.
The win moves them up to fourth in the Premier League table after a terrible start which saw them at the foot of the table with two straight defeats.
They’re now ahead of Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal, and need to keep their momentum going when they travel to take on fellow newly-promoted Brighton on Sunday.
Benitez’ men have the week off after crashing out of the EFL Cup against Nottingham Forest, and that could really help them recover and take stock ahead of a game they will be desperate to win.
Brighton were Newcastle’s main rivals last season and after a nip-and-tick run-in, Newcastle pipped them to the Championship title.
Chris Hughton’s men are still struggling to adapt to their new surroundings though, and sit in 16th place in the league, with just one win and one draw to their name, although they were unlucky not to get anything out of a 2-1 defeat by Bournemouth on Friday.
Benitez will be pleased with his team’s performance against Stoke but three players didn’t perform as well as they should – and Benitez should drop the axe ahead of the Brighton game.
Click below to see how we think Benitez should drop, starting with a player who should have done much better on Saturday…