MATT RITCHIE insists the current Newcastle United squad is good enough to secure Premier League survival – no matter what happens in the final two days of the transfer window.

The Magpies head towards tomorrow's 11pm deadline still scrambling to try to sign a new striker, with proposed deals for both Nicolai Jorgensen and Daniel Sturridge having collapsed yesterday.

Rafael Benitez has repeatedly stressed the importance of bolstering the squad this month, but Newcastle will head into tomorrow’s Premier League game with Burnley with Chelsea loanee Kenedy the only player to have moved to Tyneside since the transfer window opened at the start of January.

Benitez’s side return to league duty just one point clear of the relegation zone, but Ritchie is adamant that even without further additions, there is sufficient quality within the current squad to finish out of the bottom three.

“We can’t control anything that happens in terms of transfers or playing coming in, so there’s no point even thinking about it,” said the Magpies winger, who returned to the starting line-up in Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round defeat to Chelsea. “We’ve got a good squad of players, we know that.

“We’ve got competition for places, and that’s going to be important in the rest of the season. We back ourselves to achieve what we want to, and everyone is hungry for success.

“We need to keep that mind-set, and hopefully if we stick to what the manager wants from us, that’ll be good enough to keep us in the Premier League.”

Newcastle exited the FA Cup with a tame 3-0 defeat at the weekend, and Benitez was criticised in a number of quarters for changing almost half of his starting line-up despite taking on the reigning Premier League champions.

Ritchie understands why securing Premier League survival has to be the clear priority, and is confident Newcastle will return to winning ways when they take on a Burnley side that have gone eight games without a win in all competitions.

“For every team in the Premier League in a similar position to us, the league has to be the priority,” he said. “We all want to stay in the league, that’s the most important thing. We’ll be fully focused on that now, and working hard towards making it happen.

“It’s so tight, and it’s probably going to go right to the wire for all the teams in a similar position to us in the table. We just have to make sure we continue to work hard and look to improve, and hopefully we can secure our safety.”