A failure to pick off the Cherries still haunts boss

UNITED ARE DETERMINED NOT TO SLIP UP THIS TIME

RAFA Benitez still has the look of a man in pain when he thinks back to Newcastle United’s trip to the Vitality Stadium last season.

It was a day in which he thought he had got everything right as his team looked to be cruising to three points against AFC Bournemouth with just 11 minutes to go as they held a healthy 2-0 lead.

Although, as Benitez knows well, football can be an incredibly cruel game - and as Jonjo Shelvey dispatched the ball into the stands after Christian Atsu handed him a gift-wrapped chance to clinch the away victory the game started to slip away.

Two goals in the last nine minutes followed and United limped out of the ground with just a point to show for their efforts.

Before setting off for the south coast, Benitez told the Chronicle: “I remember that day - we had that chance to seal it.

“We suffered for it in the last few minutes because they kept on pushing.

“If we have a situation like that again, hopefully we will manage in a better way.

“I think it will be different and quite difficult.”

Benitez and his coaching team have spent some of the week trying to make sense of AFC Bournemouth’s class of 2018/19. Just a few weeks ago they inflicted a 4-0 hammering on Chelsea but turned up to face Manchester City to put in one of the worst home performances of their short Premier League history.

City won 1-0 and that was notmuch of a surprise but the Cherries failed to register a solitary shot and had just 18% possession. Benitez admitted Bournemouth are a strange proposition these days.

He added: “It is true. They are a team who need to be more consistent because they can create but they also concede.

“If they play like they did at Huddersfield they can be quite dangerous.

“It is really important for us to go there with belief but at the same time have a lot of respect.” The United boss also feels victory against the Cherries will mean his side are all but safe in the Premier League next season.

Benitez is no stranger to the mind games in the Premier League and feels winning this weekend could “change a lot of things”.

Three points today will definitely extend Newcastle’s lead over relegation rivals Cardiff City and Southampton, neither of whom play this weekend. Benitez added: “If we can get three points in this game, I think we can keep pushing with more confidence and without maybe any fear that if you have two bad results, everything will be more difficult.

“If we do that, I think we can do much better - if we don’t do that, we have to keep fighting like we have done already.”

Many pundits and fans have predicted a draw this weekend in this one - but Benitez was having none of that in his pre-game press conference.

When asked if a point was still a good result, he said: “I think we have to be sure we go there with the belief we can win - but at the same time without that complacency.”

The Spaniard was frustrated with his players after warning them for the entire week in the build-up to the West Ham game about Felipe Anderson and his team-mates.

While he was pleased with his squad’s response to win against Everton, he challenged his side to keep things tighter defensively.

He added: “We cannot make the same mistakes as West Ham when we started the game without focus and we conceded goals which it made it hard for ourselves.

“Everton was a bit different because we started OK and we were not playing badly.

“We missed a penalty and it was different to West Ham because then we started the game without too much intensity.”

It is really important for us to go there with belief but at the same time have a lot of respect Rafa Benitez