Newcastle remain winless in all competitions so far this term, with Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal their fourth loss in their opening five Premier League matches.
As a result, United find themselves in the bottom three and, although they have faced four of last season’s top six, the toothless nature of their attacking display against the Gunners was concerning.
But Benitez believes last season’s top six are far stronger than the rest of the division and, now that United’s fixture list eases a little, he is adamant Newcastle will start to climb the table.
“Yeah,” Benitez responded emphatically when asked if he was still confident of keeping Newcastle in the Premier League.
“Obviously we have to start winning soon because that will give us more confidence. But I don’t see a massive difference between teams. Obviously the top six you can say, yes, fine. But for the others it was just one goal.
“We were expecting a difficult game [against Arsenal], but the first half was very positive, and the second is something that can happen against top sides with so much quality. I always say, if you have players with quality, they can win games even if something is wrong.
“So very similar [to how I felt at the start of the season]. It is a time to stay calm, and to see what you are doing right, and what you have to do to improve.”
What has encouraged Benitez is that his side have been close to picking up points against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, while the Magpies were the better side for 45 minutes against Arsenal, too.