Benitez Expects County Challenge

By Tom Easterby - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez reckons Saturday's opponents Derby County will be among the teams challenging at the top of the Sky Bet Championship table come the end of this season.

Nigel Pearson's Rams have endured a difficult start to the campaign so far, winning only once in five league outings so far.

But Benitez has warned his side to be wary of Derby when they head to the iPro Stadium on Saturday evening (5.30pm kick-off), and believes it is only "a question of time" before Pearson's men get into their stride as they bid to mount another promotion push.

And the Spaniard wants his own team to continue in their current rich vein of form, which has seen them win their last four games in all competitions, helping them establish what he describes as a "winning mentality".

"I think they're a good team. They have a good manager with experience, and I think that they will be at the top. How high, I don't know, but they will be at the top end of the table," said the Magpies boss.

"We know that they have experience in this league, and they were doing really well. When you have a good team, it's just a question of time that they will start performing. Hopefully they can wait another week, we can do well, get three points and after, I will wish them all the best."

He added: "It's always important to keep winning. When you talk about winning mentality, it's not just that you are winning, it's also that you approach every game thinking 'we can win - we have to win'.

"It's football, so anything can happen, but to go with the confidence that you can win is crucial if you want to stay at the top. We have this mentality."

Benitez could hand a debut to forward Daryl Murphy on Saturday, with the striker having opened his account for the Republic of Ireland by scoring the equaliser in his country's 2-2 draw in Serbia earlier this week.

But the United manager says his recent signing from Ipswich Town knows he's in for a battle if he's to make sure of a regular place in the Newcastle line-up, with four-goal frontman Dwight Gayle and Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic also bidding to lead the line.

"We signed him because we knew he can score a lot of goals. He has done that in the Championship and also now he's scoring at international level," said Benitez.

"The main thing for us is how he can give something to our team. He can give experience, he can give goals, he can give physicality, so all these things, and each game we will decide.

"I think he knows, he understands that we have very good strikers too, so the competition will be difficult and that is what we are looking for - competition in all the positions, to make sure that at the end of the season we are where we want to be."