Saturday 2 May 2015 12:28, UK
John Carver has set his Newcastle players a four-point target from their remaining four games to secure their survival in the Premier League.
Carver’s side tackle in-form Leicester on Saturday on the back of seven straight defeats which has left the club just five points above the relegation zone in 14th place in the table.
"We need four points,” said Carver. “That's what's in my head at the moment. Leicester had four wins in the row, Sunderland did that last year, so you've got to set the bar a bit higher.
"There are one or two tough games for the sides at the bottom, so four points would be ample."
Collecting those four points from as many remaining fixtures against the Foxes, West Brom and West Ham at home either side of a trip to struggling QPR, might not sound particularly taxing.
However, Newcastle having managed to take only nine points from the 45 they have contested under Carver's charge, and they need a drastic improvement in that situation if they are to steer themselves into calmer waters.
By contrast, Nigel Pearson's men have put together a blistering run with Wednesday night's home defeat by champions-in-waiting Chelsea ending a sequence of four successive wins which dragged a series of other clubs into the fight against the drop.
There are one or two tough games for the sides at the bottom, so four points would be ample.
Carver said: "Absolutely, and let's include ourselves in that. I said this two weeks ago. I said two weeks ago we were in a scrap and a fight, and we are, and we know that and the players know that.
"If they want to retain their Premier League status, they've got to do something about it, we've got to do something about it."
Carver was at the King Power Stadium in midweek to see Leicester's winning run come to an end in person, but he is not reading too much into that.
He said: "This is a tough game. We were there on Wednesday night the atmosphere was incredible. We're going to have to cope with that.
"They're a big physical side, but they did run out of steam against a side which is going to win the title. Of our last four games, it's probably one of the toughest we've got left."
