Newcastle have now collected just one point from a possible 12, but boss Joe Kinnear is not worried about relegation. "Yes, I think we can see light at the end of the tunnel," said Kinnear. "I'm an optimist.

"Once we get two or three players back fully fit, really fully fit, I think we'll be all right, I really do.

"I know everyone else will be saying something different. Only time will tell, but I'm very confident we will stay up. Very confident.

"I've just been riddled with injuries for the past six weeks. I haven't picked the same team back-to-back since I've been here," he continued.

"And the gaps in the squad mean it's players patched up or the youth teams. I'm not having a knock at the previous managers, but whoever did their homework on the squad needs to take a long look at it because we haven't got any backups.

"You would think a club of this size would be doubled up in every position. We're not, we're miles away from it, miles."