Friday 14 December 2018 17:05, UK
Rafael Benitez says every point could prove crucial to Newcastle's Premier League survival, as he repeated his call for the immediate introduction of VAR.
A number of incidents during Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Wolves left the Spaniard afterwards insisting "we need VAR right now".
With Newcastle three points clear of the relegation zone, Benitez says his side are viewing their upcoming games against two of the bottom three sides, in Huddersfield and Fulham, as an opportunity to distance themselves from the drop zone.
"For us, every game is like a final," Benitez said.
"We have to approach every game thinking that one point can make a massive difference at the end of the season.
"That's the reason why I was upset the other day.
"When you are in control of a game that you can win, everything that happened the other day means for us it is more difficult.
"When you play against teams that are close to you more or less and you are in control, these decisions change everything.
"Now we have to explain to our fans that maybe we are missing three points that could be crucial at the end of the season."
Asked whether his players enter fixtures against teams around them with a different mental approach to facing those higher up the table, Benitez said: "More than mental, is that you have to be realistic.
"The next two games will be massive because we will play against teams that are very close to us.
"You can see that you can beat them if you play well and against the top sides, sometimes you can play well and still you can lose.
"It is an opportunity for us to get three points, to go a little bit higher in the table and then we have to really, really concentrate on that.
