40 points the target, says Rafa

The Magpies are currently 11 points short of that target with nine games left to play, but could take a giant step in the right direction with victory over Southampton at St. James’ Park on Saturday.

The Saints are currently a point and a place worse off than United after a largely underwhelming campaign. Indeed, only basement side West Bromwich Albion have posted fewer wins in the top flight.

The Baggies aside, the bottom half of the table is looking unusually congested with two months of the season remaining, Benítez hopeful his troops can put further distance between themselves and the drop zone as they return to their own turf for the first time since their memorable win over Manchester United.

“Every game is important for us. Obviously this is the most important one because it is the next one, but until the end we have to keep going. Obviously I hope that we will win, but then we will have to think about the next one, and what will we have to do? Try to win. And until the last one, we have to try to win. Every game for us is a final now,” the Spaniard said.

“You never know, because everybody is so close, but I think 40 points will be enough.

“(On Saturday), you are talking about a team around you. When you play against a top side, the difference between those and the other teams is massive, so everything has to be perfect for you if you want to get points. When you play against teams around you, even when you make mistakes, sometimes you can win. Hopefully that will be the case.”

After Saturday’s clash, Newcastle have a three-week break before returning to action against Huddersfield Town, and Benítez confirmed that the Magpies will fill the void – to some degree, at least – by travelling to Spain for a four-day training camp.

“I am not very keen to go to Spain to enjoy the sun, because I have been there all of my life, so I never need to do that,” he chuckled. “Because 21 days is too many days without a game we needed to do something, so we have decided to go for four days to Spain. Not too much, not too long, no parties – nothing. Just to train, to be sure that after we have a competitive game and then go back – that’s it. The idea is to go next week, try to play a game and then come back.”