Former Newcastle striker Micky Quinn is looking forward to the Magpies trip to play Brighton in the Premier league on Sunday, and singled out Matt Ritchie and Jamaal Lascelles for praise.
He predicts that Newcastle will make it four in a row and continue their great start to the season, after losing the first two games.
Writing in his column in the Chronicle, Quinn said: “Newcastle United are bang in form right now and I am full of confidence ahead of the trip to the south coast.
“The way Rafa Benitez has Newcastle playing at the moment, I can’t see anything but a fourth win on the bounce.
“Rafa has them so well organised and then counter attacking at such pace that teams are struggling to cope with them.
“Then there’s set pieces, where Jamaal Lascelles looks deadly from at the moment because Matt Ritchie’s delivery has just been so good recently.”
OPINION
It’s been some turnaround for Newcastle. After a poor summer of business, and Rafa Benitez not happy, to losing the first two games of the season, things were looking bleak for Newcastle a few weeks ago. Now they’re fourth in the Premier League and they’ve had all week off to prepare for the Brighton game because they got knocked out of the League Cup by Nottingham Forest. By contrast, Brighton lost on Tuesday night to Bournemouth after extra time, and are likely to be tired. It’s a great opportunity to get another one over their big rivals from last season and cement their unlikely place at the right end of the Premier League table. They’re unlikely to be there at the end of the season, but every win is a step closer to Premier League safety, and that’s the real goal this season. Quinn is also right to single out Ritchie and Lascelles for praise – they’ve been brilliant and could combine again to secure the three points at the Amex.