Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew admits they're in a relegation battle.

Pardew could lose ­two-goal Demba Ba to his £7.5million buy-out clause which would be another blow and yet he is convinced Toon will get out of danger.

He said: "I've never looked away from the bottom of the league, to be honest.

"Any Premier League manager outside of the top four or five clubs who says he doesn't look at getting 40 points first is telling a fib.

"We are 20 points short at the moment so we've got a bit to do. We've got good players to come back and we're going to make an impact in this league at some point."