Benitez issues rallying call after fourth straight defeat

Newcastle United has suffered a drop in form after brisk start to the 2017-18 EPL season.

Rafael Benitez calls for hard work after Newcastle United's home defeat to Watford.

Rafael Benitez has urged Newcastle United to stick together and dig deep after Saturday's loss to Watford made it four defeats on the bounce. This home defeat (3-0) has seen the Magpies drop to 13th in the Premier League table.

Read: Man United cut gap to five points

"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."

Benitez was asked if 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.”