Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez says that his team need to still believe that they can survive in the Premier League, but anxiety is "killing" them.

Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has urged everyone to "believe" that the club can win their battle against Premier League relegation.

The Magpies suffered another blow in their fight to stay in the top flight as they lost 3-1 to Southampton on Saturday afternoon.

Newcastle are 19th in the league table, six points from safety with six games left to play.

Benitez is yet to win a game since taking over in March following one draw and three defeats.

"To be fair, the last three games have been the same. I've been saying the same thing," Benitez told BBC Sport. "Second half we did much better but I'm really disappointed with the first half. Everyone needs to know that we have a lot of people behind us and so we need to give everything.

"Normally when you are in the position we are in, when you start the game conceding a goal, it's not the best. We have to show more character like we did in the second half. We have four more games at home and we will need everyone's support there. In the second half, the team showed we had character.

"Away we are not doing well. At home we have the fans behind us and we need them. It's not the time to criticise. We have six games to play and everyone is important. It's important that everybody continues to believe. The anxiety is killing us sometimes. If we can control these things then things will change."

Benitez has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave the club if they get relegated to the Championship.