Spirits raised as Rondon joins trip to St Mary’s

STRIKER FIT AND IN THE SQUAD TO TAKE ON SAINTS

NEWCASTLE United have been handed a massive boost ahead of their trip to Southampton after Salomon Rondon was declared fit for the big clash at St Mary’s Stadium.

The Magpies are short of goals and confidence going into the meeting with Mark Hughes’ side but Rondon will be on the plane for the crucial encounter.

The on-loan West Bromwich Albion striker has been injured since the 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace after picking up a thigh injury.

Benitez said: “Rondon is fit and he is in the squad.

“We thought he was fit ,and it was a pity what happened for him at Crystal Palace.

“Now he is fit, hopefully he can stay fit for a while and at least increase competition for the team.”

Benitez will also include Republic of Ireland international defender Ciaran Clark

in the squad for the Premier League dogfight on the south coast.

Benitez said: “Everybody apart from Florian Lejeune and Jamie Sterry are available.”

And while Benitez could be forgiven for wielding the axe after nine games without a win, he will keep the faith with the majority of his team today.

He is refusing to panic and is confident that the team that have made a poor start to the campaign can deliver three points today.

The 1-0 defeat against Brighton ended some fans debating the lack of changes made from the bench in the closing stages.

When asked if he was going to make sweeping changes against the Saints, Benitez told the Chronicle: “To be fair I was encouraging the players on the bench to perform in training to put me under more pressure.

“That is what we have to do as a group. The group need to keep pushing me.

“We analyse things but when you end up making radical changes it is because everything is wrong. “I don’t accept everything is wrong. We are losing – yes. But we are very close in a lot of games to getting something. “Have we conceded five goals in every game?

“No, if we were we would change a lot of things.

“But close need calm.

“We need to have confidence in our players and we need to give confidence to our fans from what we did last year. we are and we to stay

“We have to carry on and try to do better.

“Sometimes better is just making a couple of movements or changing a couple of positions that will make the difference.”

The encounter with Mark Hughes’ struggling side has already been billed something of a desperation ding dong.

Southampton have not won in the Premier League at home since April and aren’t in much better shape than the Magpies.

Benitez knows it will still be a close affair.

He said: “We are both very close in terms of stats and data in terms of goals scored and things like that.

“The good thing for me is in our last two games we did quite well. Against Brighton and Man United we did quite well.

“We can talk about the results and say it was not enough – yes I said that as well.

“But still the way we approach the game and the way we played it was enough to get something. “That is my hope and belief.” With nine games gone, Newcastle are rock bottom of the table with two points – but Benitez feels it will be a different story when another nine games are on the board.

He said: “If you analyse the games we have played we had five of the top six in the first few games. “The next nine will take us to the halfway point of the season.

“All of the games, apart from Liverpool maybe, we can play well and compete. We can win some of these games. My belief is that once we can get our first win everything will feel different.”

Looking ahead to the game, Benitez was in fine mood, he said: “I’d like to see us play the same way we did at Old Trafford.

“I know we are in a bad position but the team is working hard.”

My belief is that once we can get our first win everything will feel different