Benitez refuses to get carried away

Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez insists his side can still improve their game despite Tuesday night’s 6-0 win over Queens Park Rangers in the Championship.

Former Swansea midfielder Jonjo Shelvey opened the scoring thanks to a deflected effort before Ayoze Perez made it 2-0.

Shelvey then grabbed his second of the night at Loftus Road with a stunning 25-yard strike, before centre-back Ciaran Clark made it four.

Two tap-ins from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Grant Hanley sealed the impressive victory but Benitez has played down their win.

The Magpies, 1.91 to win the Championship title, started the season with a defeat against Fulham before then losing to Huddersfield Town.

However, since then they have six games in a row in both the league and League Cup but Benitez wants his side to focus on the task at hand.

He told BBC Sport: “We can still improve. The team was playing well, everybody was pushing and working hard, but you always make some mistakes.

“The main thing for us was to get the three points so we could leave our fans happy. We also managed to get the clean sheet.

“We now have to show we can concentrate in every game. It doesn’t matter if we score six goals, we get three points in the end.

Now have to concentrate on the next game and not lose that concentration.” Tuesday night’s win lifted Newcastle into second in the league table, just days before their clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers.