Ghana winger Christian Atsu has lauded his Newcastle United teammate Matt Ritchie for his performances in their tilt to return to English Premier League.
Atsu, often found on the opposite side to Ritchie thinks having the likes of Gayle and Ritchie in the United XI is invaluable, as both can win a match single-handedly, and have done so on numerous occasions this campaign so far.
“He is a great player,” said the Ghanaian. “He has good finishing – he can finish with the right or the left. “I am also happy to play in the same team as him. “It makes life much easier for the other players – he can win games on his own for us.
“Having players like Matt and Dwight in our team, we are very happy.” Atsu is so happy, in fact, he’s even given up his preferred position out on the right. He explained: “We have swapped sides at times this season – the manager tells us to do that.
“But I do prefer to play on the right side. I have played there for so many years.” Ritchie was again the driving force behind United as they returned back to the top of the Championship table this week.
His strike, with just 20 minutes remaining, was worthy of winning any game. But the disappointment of his penalty being chalked off earlier had even more of an impact, according to Atsu.
“It was difficult to put out of our mind,” said the wideman. “I always believed we would win. “They were scared to attack us. They were always defending. We had more ball possession, we created more chances and, in the end, we scored a great goal from Ritchie.
“We created a lot of chances and eventually got the goal. “For us it is a very important three points. “Now we are going to focus on the next game.” Looking ahead to the weekend, Atsu expects United will have it tough at Hillsborough.
The Magpies head to South Yorkshire tomorrow looking to keep up the heat at the Championship summit, with both third-placed Huddersfield (Saturday, 3pm) and Brighton (Friday night) playing before them.
And while United’s away record is the best at this level, he reckons that could count for nothing on Saturday evening. “It will be a very tough game,” he said of the visit to Sheffield Wednesday. “We have a very good away record but that does not count for anything. “We have to just keep working hard.”