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Rafael Benitez: Newcastle survival fight is far from over

By Damian Spellman, | 3d
The Magpies are seven points clear of the drop zone after four successive home wins.

Rafael Benitez has warned his Newcastle team their Premier League survival mission is far from over after seeing them take a significant step towards safety.

Tuesday night's 2-0 win over Burnley, which came just three days after they beat Huddersfield by the same score, eased the Magpies seven points clear of the relegation zone with 10 games left to play.

However, as he turned his attention to Saturday's trip to West Ham, Benitez was refusing to look any further ahead than strictly necessary.

He said: "Obviously winning games, you have more confidence and then the pressure is different, but still we have to have the same idea: one game at a time, the next game is the most important.

"If we are where we are now, it's because we are focused on that and we have to do exactly the same. We cannot think the job is done, no chance.

"There's no over-confidence. We have to keep going – we can lose games, but we have to approach every game with the same mentality as today."

The win was Newcastle's fourth on the trot at St James' Park and took their tally from the last six league outings to 13 points.

It was secured by defender Fabian Schar's stunning 24th-minute strike and in-form midfielder Sean Longstaff's first Premier League goal, which arrived 14 minutes later as the Clarets struggled before the break and left themselves too much to do after it.

Longstaff has risen to prominence in recent weeks after emerging from the Academy ranks, and did his hopes of an England Under-21s call-up little harm with another impressive display.

Benitez said: "I have said so many times when he was coming with us and training with us, he was doing well and he was lucky enough to make his debut sooner rather than later because of injuries, but after, he deserved to be there.

"We decided to keep him in the team because he's working hard, he's playing well, his understanding with (Isaac) Hayden now is quite good, so there are a lot of positives when you have a young lad, local lad playing and scoring goals, obviously."

Burnley boss Sean Dyche was disappointed to see his side surrender its eight-game unbeaten league run on Tyneside, but insisted he could not be too critical of his players.

Asked if they had failed to reach their recent standards, Dyche said: "We were a long way off, particularly first half. We were a bit better second half, but first half, a long way off, and sometimes that can happen.

"Credit to them (Newcastle) as well because I thought they were better first half, they were sharper, their anticipation was better. It was a mixed bag, but I believe they deserved to win. I thought their performance overall was better than ours.

"But I'm not going to start criticising a group who have been unbeaten in eight games and have had some massive performances and big results and big points on the board."



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Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City29232476205671
2Liverpool28216164154969
3Tottenham HotspurSpurs29201856302661
4Manchester UnitedMan Utd29177558382058
5Arsenal29176661392257
6Chelsea27165647291853
7Wolverhampton WanderersWolves29127103735243
8Watford28117103940-140
9West Ham UnitedWest Ham29116123741-439
10Everton28106123939036
11Leicester CityLeicester28105133439-535
12Bournemouth29104153954-1534
13Crystal Palace2996143539-433
14Newcastle UnitedNewcastle2987142636-1031
15Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton2886143041-1130
16Burnley2986153253-2130
17Southampton2969143249-1727
18Cardiff CityCardiff2974182557-3225
19Fulham2845192663-3717
20Huddersfield TownHuddersfield2935211551-3614
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Championship Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Norwich CityNorwich35209671452669
2Leeds UnitedLeeds35207859382167
3Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd34197859342564
4West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom35179967472060
5Middlesbrough341513638241458
6Bristol City34159104436854
7Derby CountyDerby34149114342151
8Birmingham CityBirmingham35121495345850
9Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest35121494740750
10Hull City35148135048250
11Aston Villa35111596153848
12Preston North EndPreston351212115449548
13Swansea CitySwansea34138134542347
14Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds341211114148-747
15Brentford3412101258461246
16Stoke CityStoke351014113742-544
17Blackburn RoversBlackburn351111134755-844
18Queens Park RangersQPR35126174255-1342
19Wigan AthleticWigan3499163347-1436
20Millwall35810173853-1534
21Reading35712163751-1433
22Rotherham UnitedRotherham35615143756-1933
23Bolton WanderersBolton3568212255-3326
24Ipswich TownIpswich35312202759-3221
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