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‘Too much talent’, ‘Chuffed’ – Newcastle fans rave over one man in seven changes v v Brighton
Newcastle United fans have turned to social media to react to news that Rafael Benitez has chosen to start winger Christian Atsu for the club’s clash against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.
The Magpies revealed their starting XI against the Seagulls via their official Twitter account, confirming that the Spanish manager had chosen to make seven changes from the defeat to Manchester City in their last outing.
Rob Elliot, Javier Manquillo, Chancel Mbemba, Jonjo Shelvey, Jacob Murphy, Mohamed Diame and Rolando Aarons all drop out of the starting line up, to be replaced by Karl Darlow, Ciaran Clark, Matt Ritchie, Isaac Hayden, Atsu, Mikel Merino and Dwight Gayle.
The club are looking to pick up their second win in three games after seeing off West Ham before Christmas, after a spirited performance against runaway leaders City ended in a narrow 1-0 loss.
It was the inclusion of Atsu, who impressed in his cameo appearance against Manchester City, which had the Toon Army in delight on Twitter.
Here, Football Insider has rounded up a selection of the supporters’ best tweets:
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Atsu has been a regular for Benitez this season, with two goals and two assists in his 16 appearances.
Newcastle are currently sitting in 15th place in the Premier League table, having put an end to a nine game losing streak with victory over the Hammers, a streak which had garnered just one point from a possible 27.
They lost the reverse fixture of this clash earlier in the season, with Tomer Hemed netting the only goal of the game to secure Chris Hughton and his men a 1-0 victory on the south coast.
In other Newcastle United news, the club’s top flight rivals are readying a £12million swoop for one of the Magpies’ top stars.