Newcastle United players are ready to fight right up until the very last game of the season to secure their Premier League survival, stresses Matt Ritchie.
The Magpies are just one point above the relegation zone after 24 matches and host eighth-placed Burnley at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening.
Rafa Benitez’s side crashed out of the FA Cup at the fourth-round stage with a 3-0 defeat at Chelsea on Sunday, and now their sole focus is on staying in the top flight.
With just eight points separating 12 teams from ninth down to 20th, Ritchie expects the relegation dogfight to go right through until the end of the season - but is backing the Magpies to retain their Premier League status.
“It’s so tight, and it’s probably going to go right to the wire for all the teams in a similar position to us in the table,” Ritchie said of the relegation fight.
“We just have to make sure we continue to work hard and look to improve, and hopefully we can secure our safety.
“We’ve got a squad of players, we know that. We’ve got competition for places, and that’s going to be important in the rest of the season.
“We back ourselves to achieve what we want to, and everyone is hungry for success.
“We need to keep that mindset, and hopefully if we stick to what the manager wants from us, that’ll be good enough to keep us in the Premier League.
“We can’t control anything that happens in terms of transfers or playing coming in, so there’s no point even thinking about it. We just have to keep working hard.”
Newcastle have failed to progress past the fourth round of the FA Cup since 2006 - a damning statistic which stretches through the whole Mike Ashley era.
This season, however, Ritchie accepts that securing Premier League survival has to be the priority, rather than a cup run.
“I thought in the first half, although we conceded two goals, we held our own and did OK,” Ritchie said of the 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.
“Obviously when you’re 2-0 down away from home at Stamford Bridge, it’s tough, but there were glimpses of chances and we kept plugging away.
“The important thing is that there are positives to take from the game, and we have to make sure we take them into Burnley on Wednesday night.
“For every team in the Premier League in a similar position to us, the league has to be the priority. We all want to stay in the league, that’s the most important thing.
“We’ll be fully focused on that now, and working hard towards making it happen.”