Eddie Howe warns Newcastle’s battle to beat the drop will go down to the wire

Eddie Howe has warned Newcastle United the fight for Premier League survival will go all the way to the wire.

The Magpies have given their hopes of avoiding the drop a major boost in recent weeks with a six-game unbeaten run, including three wins, which has hoisted them out of the drop zone.

However, Burnley’s back-to-back victories over Brighton and Tottenham and recent wins for Norwich and Watford have seen the strugglers reel in the sides immediately above them to significantly increase the size of the field.

Howe, whose men head for Brentford on Saturday, said: “It’s going to go right to the end of the season in the sense of the relegation battle. The fight to stay in the league I think, will go to the wire.

“From our side, we have to take care of our own business, and that is consistently winning games or consistently getting points and trying to push ourselves and elevate ourselves away from danger.

“But if we think it’s going to be given to us by the other teams, that’s absolutely not going to happen. This is the hardest league in the world for a reason and we’re going to have to fight for every point.

“Our destiny is still in our own hands, and that’s where we want it and that’s where we have to do our business first.”

Newcastle will run out sitting two points above the drop zone and knowing victory would see them leapfrog the Bees, who have taken just a single point from their last seven league games to slip into the mire.

They provided the opposition in Howe’s first game as Magpies head coach back in November when it took a late Allan Saint-Maximin equaliser to deny them victory on Tyneside on a frustrating afternoon for the 44-year-old as he looked on from afar having tested positive for Covid-19.

He said: