Benitez calls for unity as Newcastle decline continues

Rafael Benitez urged Newcastle United to stick together and dig deep after Saturday's loss to Watford made it four defeats on the bounce.

Newcastle slipped down to 13th in the Premier League table following a limp 3-0 reverse at St James' Park, leaving Benitez to issue a rallying call.

"We have to realise – the staff, the players, the fans, the media – that the only way for us is to keep working harder and together, that's it. Simple," said the Spaniard.

"For us, every game will be very difficult, as we have seen with Watford and we will see against West Brom.

"It doesn't matter the name of the other team, it will be tough for us."

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It was put to Benitez that the Magpies could become embroiled in a relegation scrap and that every point would be crucial, and he responded: "Yes. We knew that before.

"You are expecting that some of these games you can win, but we are so close that we can win 1-0, we can lose 1-0.

"As soon as we made a couple of mistakes [against Watford] we could lose 3-0, so we have to obviously realise that we have to improve on a lot of things.”

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