Newcastle United are riding high in the Sky Bet Championship as they sit second behind leaders Brighton but could return to the Championship summit with a win against Aston Villa at St James’ Park on Monday night.
A number of Newcastle players have been superb this season but one man, 23-year-old Jamaal Lascelles who started the season as captain has struggled in recent games but as reported by the Chronicle Live, the Magpies manager Rafa Benitez believes the centre-back will rediscover his form to help Newcastle get back into the Premier League.
Benitez said: “I think he didn’t play well in one game but he was really good in the next game he played.”
The Spaniard made particular reference to the Toon’s match against Norwich City in midweek which ended in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle making a number of errors at the back with Benitez remarking on Lascelles: “In our last game, he was more or less average defensively.
“But after he scored the goal, he was doing really well. So you have to analyse everything and Jamaal has been really good for us.
“You can accept you have a bad game but to score the goal the other day was very good for his confidence.’’
After dropping into the Championship, the Magpies are on course to achieve automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. It appears to be a two-horse race between Newcastle and Brighton to win England’s second division.
