Newcastle United star sends message to Leeds, Everton & Premier League relegation rivals

Newcastle United remain in the Premier League relegation battle - but captain Jamaal Lascelles is “very confident” of sealing survival.

The Magpies sit 14th in the table, nine points above the bottom three, which is currently made up of Norwich City, Burnley and Watford.

Above that sit Everton, Leeds United, and Brentford. Eddie Howe’s side, who have suffered back-to-back defeats at Chelsea and Everton, have nine games left to play this season, starting with Tottenham Hotspur away on Sunday.

Any of those clubs hoping to stay up in place of the Magpies should think twice, with Lascelles and his teammates determined to see out the job at hand.

Lascelles & Co confident of Premier League survival

"We’re very confident,” Lascelles said, when asked about his side’s hopes of staying in the top-flight. “We have a great squad of winners.

"We’re just preparing for the next game and that’s all we can control."

The 28-year-old, speaking to the media at the NUCASTLE launch event, also shared details of a “mentality switch” in the Magpies dressing room.

Lascelles credited the appointment of Eddie Howe in November as the main factor behind that following a recent nine-game unbeaten run.

A big mentality switch following Howe’s appointment

“There is a big mentality shift in terms of what we want,” the former Nottingham Forest defender revealed. We go into every game now wanting the three points.

“Even when we go down to Chelsea, we aren’t going there to sit back and hope to get a draw. We go there to win the game.

“That comes from the manager and it comes from the players the manager has signed.

“That’s been the quickest thing I’ve had to adapt to and it’s the most obvious thing all the players who have been here for a while have had to adjust to as well.

“We are not here just to survive anymore. We have a winner’s mentality, the club is ambitious and we are part of that. You can see that in the way we play.”

During the Magpies’ last relegation season in 2015/16, Lascelles, despite being a relatively new face in the dressing room, called out some of his teammates for not caring.

That ultimately earned him the captaincy months later under Rafa Benitez. Dressing room rifts, however, are now a thing of the past at Newcastle.

Dressing room rifts a thing of the past

“We have got a great bunch, there is no negativity. Before, when we have been in dressing rooms, there is moaning about this and moaning about that.

Everyone knows now just to nip everything in the bud, even if there’s a bit of grumbling. That can be quite a negative thing in the dressing room and can cause upset.

“But we’ve got some great lads in the dressing-room that nip things in the bud straight away, to make sure nothing is an issue.

“We are just trying to keep everything positive, and so do the staff. Training is really hard, really intense. But at the same time it is enjoyable and feels fun.”