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THE sense of apathy was overwhelming. Not even one of the great goals of the season could lift the mood.
NEWCASTLE keeper Rob Elliot said the Toon Army deserve to be in the relegation zone.
Rafa Benitez’s men dropped into the bottom three for the first time this term after suffering their eighth defeat in nine games.
They put up a brave fight at the Emirates and their late resilience nearly brought an unlikely point, but Elliot admitted he had no time for hard-luck stories and the club must not look for excuses.
Elliot said: “We are there because we have lost the last eight out of nine, so you can’t say ‘Oh, we’ve been unlucky.’
“It’s tough. I don’t think results have always reflected how we have played. But you don’t lose eight games without playing badly. You have to take it on the chin and keep working hard.
“We have got a lot of young lads and it’s about trying to keep the positivity. It’s about believing in what we are doing and what the manager is telling us to do and knowing that we can turn it around.”
Newcastle face West Ham, Brighton, and Stoke between now and New Year’s Day but the 31-year-old keeper claims they have got it tougher than all of their rivals who are fighting against relegation.
“To play for Newcastle is tougher than other clubs because you know you carry the momentum of the city and we need to make sure we can use that to end the run and push on,” said Elliot.
“In the Christmas period things can change very quickly. You’ve seen that in seasons before – you can have a good Christmas or a bad Christmas and it can change the table. Obviously for us, we want to try to end the run and have a good Christmas and January because suddenly, three or four games, a few good results, you can see yourself jump right up.”
The downside for Newcastle is that in their next six Premier League games they face Manchester City twice – on December 27 and January 20.
Elliot (below) backed the Newcastle players’ decision to cancel their own Christmas party so they could concentrate on the fight for Premier League survival.
He added: “It was a decision that we made because it’s not right to go out and celebrate. I think there are more important things to worry about.
“We have great togetherness so I think it’s an appropriate time, when we are not where we want to be, to knuckle down and think solely about football, concentrate solely on that and make sure that our focus is on the game.
“We showed against Arsenal that you can’t question the commitment or the effort of the players. Hopefully we can push on with that and have a good Christmas and January.”