Ciaran Clark has said that Newcastle United’s Premier League safety is down to their own performances after a successful festive run-in.
United collected seven points from a possible 12 beating West Ham and Stoke City and drawing against Brighton. Clark, who played a key role in the Stoke City game believes that he and his team mates just need to concentrate on themselves.
“We can only concentrate on our own games and our own results. Hopefully now, from the results we’ve had, we can use that as a positive, push on now and use the form.”
Clark, who fired over from three yards against Stoke, was relieved to see Ayoze Perez grab the winner as manager Rafa Benitez did his best to juggle the demands of the festive calendar in the Premier League
“I think the manager’s done it really well.” Clark told the club website. “He’s managed to use everyone in the tough games.
“With all the fixtures, it’s been a tough month and when the squad’s not as big as other teams, it obviously makes it more difficult but we’re just trying to keep everyone fit and as fresh as possible for the games that are coming up and I think - touch wood - we’ve done a good job of that.
“You see teams getting a win and they’re jumping up a few places, and I think it’s going be like that throughout the rest of the season.”
United secured clean sheets against Brighton and Stoke and conceded only one goal against Manchester City - something few other clubs have done.
Clark made several key interceptions against Stoke, and says it’s an aim of the team to be as tight as possible at the back.
“I think for every defender, that’s their main aim; they want to keep clean sheets, and obviously the goalie.
“But as a team, that’s what we’ve tried to do - it’s not just the back four or five, it’s the whole team working hard to try and keep the clean sheet and give ourselves the best opportunity to go up the other end and get a goal.
“As a team, we want to keep as many clean sheets as possible and we know that if we do manage that, we’ll usually create chances that will give us a chance to win games.
“We did well against Brighton to keep a clean sheet but didn’t manage to get an opportunity to score. But we created plenty on Monday and I think definitely deserved to win the game.
“I think we created the better chances - I know they piled on a lot of pressure towards the end of the game but throughout the game, I think we were the better team and deserved to win.”
