MATT RITCHIE is taking nothing for granted despite Newcastle United’s climb up the Premier League table, which has been helped a great deal by his own contribution to the turnaround.

The Magpies winger has been instrumental in helping Rafael Benitez’s side enjoy a promising start to the campaign.

Despite losing the first two league games, Newcastle’s climb up to fourth in the table after winning three in a row has given everyone on Tyneside a lift.

It has also reminded everyone that Benitez still has players capable of delivering results under his watch even though he didn’t bring in the standard and number of new signings he had hoped for before the window closed.

Ritchie, a £12m buy from Bournemouth during the previous summer’s window, has made his own impressive mark on the season already, having created four of Newcastle’s goals in the league.

He will not, though, be expecting Newcastle’s return to the top-flight to run as smoothly as it has been recently for the rest of the campaign.

Ritchie said: "You'd be very naive to look at the table now and get excited. For the fans, they can look at it and be proud, but we're five games in and have nine points on the board.

"We need to hit the 40-point mark before we start getting carried away. Like any team, we want to do that as soon as possible. Hopefully, we can continue to perform well. With good performances, come points."

He does admit, however, the atmosphere in the dressing room has changed since beginning the campaign with a few defeats, including a reversal to Nottingham Forest in the League Cup.

Ritchie said: "Confidence is key, but at the same time we need to make sure that we stick with our mentality and keep our feet on the floor and continue to improve. If we continue to improve, we'll win a lot of games.

"We have to make sure we stay focused on the job in hand and not get carried away with looking at the table. At the minute, it looks rosy, but it's a long season and there'll be a lot of ups and downs. We need to make sure that we continue to improve and stay focused on the job in hand.”

Ritchie will be part of the Newcastle team that heads to Brighton on Sunday looking to continue the recent surge of good form.

Benitez’s side could face goalkeeper Tim Krul for the first time after yesterday’s confirmation that the Dutch goalkeeper’s season-long loan has become a permanent one-year arrangement.

Krul was not expected to return to Tyneside at the end of the season anyway, so his departure doesn’t come as any real surprise even if the timing of his full-time switch might be.

Ritchie is looking forward to another appearance in the Premier League himself with Newcastle, back on the south coast where he spent three successful years with Bournemouth.

He gambled when he decided to leave the top-flight behind to join Benitez’s Newcastle in the Championship and now he is excited to be back at the top level.

He said: "I left Bournemouth, which was a fantastic stage and period of my career. I look at that very proudly and have fantastic memories.

"I made that decision at the time. A lot of people raised eyebrows. We're back in the Premier League. It could have gone so differently, but it didn't through a lot of hard work from everyone involved.

"We're now where we want to be, but by no means have we achieved anything yet. We're five games in. We need to keep our feet on the floor. If you take your foot off the gas, you get punished.

"We need to keep our feet on the gas and keep improving, raising the bar and getting better, because we have to keep winning games.”