Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink believes Newcastle United displayed enough spirit during yesterday's defeat to give their bid to beat relegation a real shake.

He said: "Alan Shearer knows, because of the great experience of his in the Premier League, that it is not always when you have eight games to go that you are very optimistic.

"But he is also very realistic to say that you cannot win (all) eight games and if you play Chelsea as Chelsea played today, then it's difficult to get the points there.

"But I am sure that in spite of the defeat today, this team will recover, which they showed in parts of the second half.

"Normally when you are 2-0 down and you are in the bottom three of the league, morale is going down.

"But it was not to see in Newcastle's game and that is a good foundation for gathering points in the future."