The Magpies’ must-wins as they try to reach safety

TOON TARGETS BETWEEN NOW AND CHRISTMAS

NEWCASTLE United may be winless and mired in the bottom three but at least they’ve not been cut adrift yet.

Other sides with three points after ten matches might have been but the Premier League’s lower reaches are not especially strong this year, and the Magpies remain in touching distance of the middle of the division.

Rafa Benitez now hopes to get to the middle of the season still in touch and then re-stock his squad in January. It’s a depressing turn of events but he still believes they can achieve safety.

That means the next run of games are critical. What was once billed as a run of winnable games has been altered slightly by the sight of Watford and Bournemouth – the two most upwardly mobile sides in the division on current form – on the horizon but United will feel they can bank some points between now and the middle of the season.

And when we dig into the upcoming fixtures, the size of the task ahead becomes apparent.

United will have to really motor to get to 20 points – the half-way house to the widely regarded safety mark of 40 points – and they’ll have to start digging in to get anywhere close to last year’s safety total of 34 points.

The bad start may not yet be a disaster but we’re not in the early stages of the season anymore.

We’re more than a quarter of the campaign down now and Newcastle face at least – by our calculations – four must-win matches between now and Christmas.

Here, we sort the matches into three categories: go for a point, a must-win or a long shot.

WATFORD (H)

NEWCASTLE are heading into a fortnight in which they simply cannot draw another St James’ Park blank.

If they still have three points after 12 matches, the task moves from difficult to daunting.

It won’t be far away from impossible if the winless run extends into 15 matches.

The bad news is Watford look like an out-of-form and low-on-confidence United team’s worst nightmare. Their tails are up, they have good players and they’re the sort of team that seems to relish playing on the road.

This feels like a must-win. TARGET: Must-win (this or Bournemouth)

BOURNEMOUTH (H)

FOR those of a nervous disposition, the form table doesn’t make for pretty reading.

Bournemouth head to Tyneside after Watford and they’re flying too – a side backed by wealthy benefactors who have handed Eddie Howe the tools to turn the Cherries from a lower league side into Premier League fixtures.

How Rafa Benitez must look on with envy – especially given the fact that he’d targeted Callum Wilson as the answer to Newcastle’s striking woes when he was leading United out of the Championship.

They didn’t get him and now Wilson could break Newcastle’s hearts – but United should at least have Salomon Rondon fully fit by this point.

Winning one of those two is absolutely critical.

TARGET: Must-win (this or Watford)

BURNLEY (A)

UNITED lost a tight game at Turf Moor last season that was pitiful fare for the paying public and yet somehow the Sky cameras are back to televise this one.

Burnley are yet to replicate last year’s form and are winless in three. A ground-out point is achievable. TARGET: A point

WEST HAM (H)

NEWCASTLE did the double on the Hammers last season in a run of results that gave them the impetus to survive.

And now they will need three points from their visit again if they’re going to move closer to the target required for safety.

For all that they seem to be in better form than the early weeks of the season, they still look beatable and have not won in three themselves. TARGET: Must-win

EVERTON (A)

GOODISON Park is not a happy hunting ground for Newcastle and while Marco Silva is still getting to grips with the challenge at Everton, they have started to win matches