The Magpies’ 3-0 home victory over Swansea on Saturday, coupled with the Black Cats’ success at Norwich by the same score earlier in the day, means they are within three points of the 17th-placed Canaries with a game in hand ahead of Manchester City’s visit to St James’ Park on Tuesday evening.
Asked about the atmosphere in the dressing room after the final whistle, the Spaniard said: “Obviously much better. Everybody was happy and I think they are now thinking that we can do it and they believe.
“They have this feeling, like all the fans watching the team working as hard as today, everybody thinks we can do it. That’s the main thing. As I have said a lot of times, we will fight until the end, but now we are closer and it will be easier for me to give this speech.”
For Benitez, who was celebrating his 56th birthday, the win was the perfect gift.
He said: “When you are expecting something from your players and they give you this, three goals and three points and the way that we won, you have to say congratulations to them and congratulations to our fans because they deserved this game.
“The players worked so hard and they showed the passion, the character, the commitment we were looking for and the fans appreciate that, so I am really pleased for all of them, and it’s a good present for me.
“Now with some players, some friends, my staff, hopefully we can enjoy today – and then tomorrow, we have to start working because we have Manchester City.”
Opposite number Francesco Guidolin, who saw the Swans reach 40 points with victory over Chelsea last weekend, was disappointed with the way the match slipped away from his team.
He said: “Newcastle deserved to win, but the result is heavy for us because yes, Newcastle played better than us with more intensity, with focus, but in the second half, we had some situations, some possibilities to score and draw level, and maybe the match could have changed.
“But this is our job, it’s my job. I know football. Maybe after three months of hard work to achieve where we are in the table, it’s possible to have a bad day, and today for us was not a good day.”
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