RAFAEL BENITEZ hailed a “great achievement” as his Newcastle United side passed the 40-point safety mark with five Premier League matches still to play.
While the Magpies still need one more victory to be mathematically certain of competing in the top-flight next season, Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Arsenal effectively secured the club’s top-flight status for another campaign.
Having been in the bottom three as recently as mid-December, Benitez’s side have been on a remarkable run that has seen them suffer just two league defeats, to Manchester City and Liverpool, since the turn of the year.
They are fifth in the Premier League form table in 2018, and now look set for their first top-half finish in the top-flight since the 2013-14 season despite having made only limited additions to the squad that won promotion from the Championship last May.
“I am really pleased because it was important for us to achieve that,” said Benitez, after goals from Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie secured Newcastle’s first home win over Arsenal since 2005. “The way that we did it, every single player, every fan, every member of the staff, I have to congratulate them because it has been a fantastic achievement in a very difficult season.
“We started learning, even though we did not have too much experience for some players in the Premier League, and little by little we were growing and especially in this second part of the league, the team has grown in confidence.
“We were so good in a lot of things that in the end, I think we deserve to be where we are. Some people were dreaming that maybe we could be here, but they were not awake. We were awake, we were believing from day one and we have achieved what we wanted.”