WE WON’T DROP NOW
Jamaal hails staying power
WHISPER it quietly, but even Newcastle skipper Jamaal Lascelles thinks Toon are safe now.
Boss Rafa Benitez might be refusing to accept it but just about everyone else in football thinks his side will be playing in the Premier League again next season.
The Geordies are now 10th in the table with 38 points after goals from Jonjo Shelvey and Ayoze Perez saw them grab a crucial victory.
Toon fans have made it quite clear that their hearts are set on a glorious double – safety for them and relegation to League One for bitter rivals Sunderland.
Benitez is still demanding 40 points before he relaxes.
But Lascelles said: “If someone had told us we’d be on 38 points with six games to go, we’d have snapped their hand off.
“This is a massive win – probably our biggest of the season. I think we can start really enjoying our football and play with a bit more freedom and confidence.
“The feeling around the place, in training and before the game, there’s definitely a real confidence – it’s not complacency. Even last season when we were top of the Championship there was a bit of anxiety because you’re always looking at teams below you.
“Before the last couple of games we were in that situation as well but maybe we can relax a bit more now.”
Wiped
When Shelvey, of all people, scored his first top-flight goal for Newcastle, Leicester should have known the writing was on the wall, especially when they were denied a penalty just before half-time.
There was little doubt that Paul Dummett wiped out Riyad Mahrez in the area with his tackle and quite how referee Stuart Attwell failed to see that is anyone’s guess. That would almost certainly have LEICESTER (4-4-1-1): Schmeichel 5; Simpson 5 (Okazaki 57, 6), Morgan 5, Maguire 5, Chilwell 5; Mahrez 5, SILVA 7, Iborra 5 (Choudhury 42, 6), Albrighton 6; Diabate 5 (Gray 76); Vardy 6. Subs: Jakupovic, Iheanacho, Dragovic, UP Fuchs. NEXT: Burnley (a), Premier League, Saturday. NEWCASTLE (4-4-1-1): Dubravka 6; Yedlin 6, Lascelles 7, Lejeune 7, Dummett 6; Ritchie 6, Diame 6 (Hayden 81), Shelvey 8, Kenedy 7 (Atsu 64, 5); PEREZ 8; Gayle 7 (Joselu 70, 6). Subs: Darlow, Clark, Manquillo, Merino. UP NEXT: Arsenal (h), Premier League, Sunday. Referee: Stuart Attwell 3. YOUR TURN: Which England striker was the last man to score a hat-trick this in fixture? seen the Foxes level at the break. But it wasn’t to be and when Perez extended the visitors’ lead with a classy lob that looked to be it. Jamie Vardy helped himself to a real poacher’s goal which made for an anxious last few minutes for Benitez but his men held out. Leicester defender Danny Simpson says Attwell won’t need telling he got it wrong. Simpson said: “That is a penalty and at 1-1 the whole game changes and they have to come at us.
“I didn’t speak to the ref but he knows and he would have known at half-time.
“He has a linesman who is 20 yards away from it. They are a team. If he couldn’t see it himself, then he has to ask his linesman.”