Newcastle United head coach Rafa Benitez has told Sky Sports that it is time for his team to finish the job and get promoted on Monday night.
With 3rd placed Reading falling to a surprising 3-2 defeat against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Newcastle have the opportunity to get promoted on Monday night if they simply don’t lose against Preston North End. While the Magpies didn’t dominate the Sky Bet Championship like some expected, it would still be an achievement to get promoted back to the Premier League at the first time of trying, especially with the teams they were relegated with missing out.
And for Benitez, getting promotion will be the only thing on his mind as they invite Preston up to St James Park. He has said in preparation for this game that it is time for his team to finish the job they’ve been trying to do all season and make sure their place in the Premier League for next season is secure.
He said: “My target was always to try to go up. It doesn’t matter to me the position, so the main thing is just to make sure we finish our job.”
“I am sure that everything is fine if we go up. In six months’ time, nobody will remember if we won or lost any games, just that we were promoted – that was the target.
“I always talk about experience and in this case, stats and history if you want. In the last five years, you haven’t had too many teams going straight up – just one, so that shows how difficult it is for the teams who were relegated.”
