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Sutton predicts Newcastle will avoid relegation this season

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Image for Sutton predicts Newcastle will avoid relegation this season

Chris Sutton has revealed that he believes Newcastle United have too much quality to be relegated from the Premier League this season.

The former Premier League winner ran the gauntlet on many of the team’s down the end of the table, but was confident that the Magpies won’t be playing Championship football this time next year.

“I think there is maybe six [who could go down] and it is the bottom six. I think Newcastle under Rafa have too much to go down,” he told the Chronicle.

“Burnley worry me a little bit, Southampton is the real eye opener. I suppose it is difficult to judge against Manchester City but I think there are calls already for Mark Hughes’ head which I think is very harsh. You look back to their summer and their recruitment. All the sides at the bottom, Burnley, Southampton, Newcastle, have they recruited that well? I am not sure they have,” he said.

OPINION

Sutton seems pretty confident that Newcastle will be a Premier League team a year from now, but there is little certainty with anything regarding the Magpies these days. They have only just secured their first win of the season so it’s probably too early to be saying that they’re definitely safe this year. Sutton is right to question the team’s recruitment, though. Benitez was, famously, deprived of significant funds to improve his squad this summer and had to settle for a number of bargain buys as a result. None of his signings have massively impressed, although a few of them are coming into the frame now. Fans can expect bigger contributions from Yoshinori Muto, Fabian Schar and Ki Sung-yueng in the coming weeks, but the fact remains that the club didn’t bring in enough quality this off season. So Sutton is correct in that regard, and we’ll just have to wait and see if his certainty over Newcastle’s survival chances proves equally spot-on.

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