Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar has played down talk about their great form.

The Magpies are pushing for a top six finish in the Premier League this season under manager Eddie Howe.

As they prepare to take on Manchester United at the weekend, Schar believes that he and his team-mates should remain on the ground with respect to their self-belief.

Speaking with reporters after a 5-1 thrashing of Brentford, Schar said: "To be honest, it wasn't our best game in terms of how we played with the ball.

"Sometimes in the first half we lost quite a few balls in our own half which obviously we don't want to have so there is a lot more to improve but still to score five goals, the way we played, you can be proud of it and keep doing what we're doing."

He added on improving: "Yeah, especially the first goal because it came in a difficult period.

"Even they scored an offside goal and they fought like something was in the game but then we scored twice and took it from their game. The way we played was great."