Sky Sports pundit picks Matt Ritchie as key player for Newcastle United

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Newcastle United will feature in the Premier League this season after winning promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2016-17 campaign.

Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier has suggested to Sky Sports that Matt Ritchie will be a key player for Newcastle United this season.

Newcastle will feature in the Premier League this season after winning automatic promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2016-17 campaign.

Ritchie was a key player for the Magpies last season, as the 27-year-old winger scored 12 goals and provided seven assists in 40 starts in the Championship.

The winger joined Newcastle from Bournemouth in the summer of 2016 for a transfer fee reported by The Daily Mail to be worth £12 million.

Former Southampton attacking midfielder Le Tissier believes that the Scotland international will be a key player for Rafael Benitez’s side during the 2017-18 campaign.

Le Tissier has also stated that Newcastle’s weakness is their lack of goals and has backed the Magpies to finish just below mid-table.

“The strength is probably the manager,” Le Tissier told Sky Sports when asked about Newcastle’s strengths. “If you look at the squad it’s not outstanding. I like Matt Ritchie and he will be one of their key men, so him and their manager.”

“I would say, looking at the squad, in the forward department,” said Le Tissier about the Magpies’ weaknesses. “Gayle has never really done it in the Premier League and Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic didn’t really deliver either so their weakness is scoring a lot of goals.”

“Just because of Rafa, if he stays there all season, they’ll be somewhere just below mid-table,” said Le Tissier when asked where Newcastle will finish in the Premier League table this season.

Former Leicester City midfielder Robbie Savage has also given his take on Newcastle ahead of the 2017-18 Premier League campaign.

The former Wales international has predicted Benitez’s side to end up 14th in the league table this season.

“Back where they belong and, let’s be honest, they would never have gone down in the first place if Rafa Benitez had arrived half a dozen games sooner,” Savage wrote in The Mirror.

“Jacob Murphy is an exciting prospect and a worthy recruit but, with the possible exception of a cup run, Newcastle don’t need to look beyond consolidation over the next nine months. They have enough know-how and quality to survive. Verdict: Lower mid-table 14th”