Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez has praised the "passion and commitment" shown by his players in their victory over Swansea City.

The Magpies earned a 3-0 win, which is their first since Benitez took over last month.

The North-East outfit are now three points within safety with five games left to play.

"I have to say congratulations to the players," Benitez told BBC Sport. "They showed passion and commitment. Thank you to the fans. If we stick together then it's easier for us to approach the game and gives us the chance to win. The players that started were really good. And the other players who came on helped the team.

"Striker Papiss Cisse was fantastic up front and Aleksandar Mitrovic was good too when he came on. When you win games everybody is happy. Today we saw what we expect from this team.

"We have to show the same in the other games. We were not thinking about the earlier win for Sunderland over Norwich. Now we can see the table but before the game it was about focusing on the game."

Newcastle will play Manchester City and Liverpool in their next two league games.