Who is Newcastle’s Player of the Month

After three eventful Premier League matches, who do you think deserves the “Player of the Month” award? Who impressed you the most? This award can be rather flexible, as it is up to you to decide. Here are a few that I think deserve some consideration.

Mikel Merino

Merino started the Premier League campaign on Newcastle’s bench against one of the best offenses, Tottenham Hotspur. He did get to play the last 14 minutes of the game but was a non factor as that first game of the season got out of the hands of the Magpies. The next two games were vital for Merino as Shelvey was not available due to a ban. He certainly was impressive in the West Ham game, as he played the full 90 minutes and displayed his ball handling skills and leaving us wanting to see more. Some even want Merino to start over Shelvey...

Christian Atsu

One of the only bright spots in our loss to Tottenham was the performance from Atsu. He was fast, dynamic and dangerous from the very beginning and left us wanting more. He was more down to earth against Huddersfield as he struggled against the newly promoted team. But against West Ham, he again showed how dangerous he can be. He tallied an assist on Joselu’s first goal as he made a great pass to finish off a great run.

Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images

Matt Ritchie

The best performances from Ritchie came against Huddersfield and West Ham. Ritchie was one of the only players for Newcastle to really challenge Huddersfield offensively, but no goals were seen. His efforts were rewarded against West Ham as he set up Clark with a beautiful cross. His possession play was also incredible. He seemed to win every ball that came his way!

Chancel Mbemba

Mbemba started the year on the bench, as we expected, but with an awful tackle from Harry Kane, he was thrown into a position that he otherwise wouldn’t play on a weekly basis. But Mbemba has performed admirably and deserves a whole lot of credit. Although you’d like to see him be more impactful on the offensive side, his positioning at left back has been great so far.

Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Ciaran Clark

I wanted to put him with this group solely off his performance against West Ham as he scored off a cross from Matt Ritchie AND saved a goal after a ping-pong-like play involving Rob Elliot. Clark has played the full 270 minutes of Premier League football so far and has looked rather solid and consistent. He has also shown to be able to play at either center back or wing back with injuries to the Magpies’ back line.

Did I miss anyone who you think deserves the nod? Let me know in the comments!