Newcastle United beat Aston Villa 1-0 on Sunday afternoon to seal their third consecutive Premier League win. The Magpies have now won three and drawn two of their last five games and have moved out of the relegation zone with 15 games remaining.
Newcastle strengthened heavily in the January transfer window with the signings of Matt Targett at left-back, Kieran Trippier at right-back, Chris Wood as centre-forward, but Paddy Kenny believes the ‘bigger boost’ has come from the arrivals of centre-back Dan Burn and defensive midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.
Kenny believes the duo are ‘positive’ acquisitions and ‘two quality players’ who will keep Newcastle in the Premier League. He told Football Insider days before the Villa win: “They can go from strength to strength now, definitely. They (have) two signings in Guimaraes and Burn, so I think it’s a really positive sign.
“Those players come in and give them an even bigger boost. They’ve really picked up recently, and I’m quite confident that they’re going to stay up. It’s a good sign that you’ve got two quality players ready and waiting to come into the squad. They’re already getting these massive results.”
Newcastle’s win over Villa left them 17th in the table with 21 points from 23 games. They’d won just once before Eddie Howe was appointed manager, so things are looking up for the North-East outfit. In Burn, they have a towering defender who kept clean sheets at Brighton. And in Guimaraes, they have a midfielder who can turn over possession and keep the ball.
In other news, Paddy Kenny says Dan Burn was Newcastle United’s ‘best January signing’
