Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez does not believe that his club will be relegation contenders this season.

The Magpies suffered a 2-1 defeat against Manchester City on Saturday and have now lost three out of their four Premier League encounters played thus far.

They are currently languishing in 18th place on the standings with just one point to their name.

Next up for the Magpies is a testing encounter against Unai Emery’s Arsenal side on the 15th September after the international break.

Things do not get any easier for Benitez’s men and many feel that they could be relegation contenders this season amidst boardroom problems and internal issues.

Benitez, however, does not feel that his club will be relegation contenders.

Since becoming Magpies manager, Benitez has garnered praise for the work that he has done at the club amidst internal club problems.

Fans will need to hope that he can use his experience to benefit the club once again this season.

As quoted by The Chronicle, Benitez said: “For sure. It will be tough, it will be difficult but we knew the fixture list was difficult so it’s a question of being sure we could be competitive. You can see in the games against Chelsea, Spurs and today we were competitive. I won’t say what we did deserve or didn’t deserve but we were close to getting something.

“That has to be a positive in terms of mentality, team spirit and work rate from my players. I’m really proud of my players.”