Newcastle United are most people’s favourites to gain promotion to the Premier League.
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez
Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has hit back at suggestions that his squad is too large following the arrival of 12 new faces throughout the summer, stating that there was in fact more players in the group last season, as quoted by the Shields Gazette.
The Magpies are currently in the midst of an impressive run of form, and have strung together five consecutive league victories, after starting their Championship campaign in worrying fashion, with back-to-back-losses.
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez
Speaking to reporters at his pre-match press conference, Benitez responded to questions regarding the size of his squad, as quoted by the Shields Gazette:
“The squad is not big. “If you analyse every single player we had last season we had 31, now we have 27 with Woodman and Haidara, who will play for the Under-23s. What we have now is that the majority of them are fit, so we have less injuries. The squad looks bigger because we have two players in each position, more or less.”
Having two players to compete for every position will be crucial when Rafa’s men enter the business end of the Championship season.
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez
The ability that Benitez has to rotate, and rest players at pivotal points in the season, is something that not too many other managers in the division have at their disposal.
Newcastle resume their pursuit of top spot in the table with a home fixture against 16th placed Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday in a 3pm kick-off.
Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez
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