Rafa Benitez reacts to boos from Newcastle fans

The Premier League's basement club claimed a point – and their first clean sheet of the season – from their visit to St James's Park this afternoon.

Newcastle are 15th in the Premier League, and five points above the relegation zone, ahead of the Boxing Day game against Liverpool at Anfield.

Asked about the boos, United manager Benitez said: “I'm not happy with a point, but I'm happy we didn’t lose and we have four points from last two games.

"I want to win every game, but if we can’t win then we make sure we don’t lose. The fans know it doesn’t mean we're not trying our best every single game. In the circumstances here, we're doing well.

“We have to realise we will be in the bottom half of the table during the whole season, and if we go higher, it will be another miracle.

“We know the fixtures we have now. We have to stay calm, don’t panic, because we have to realise it will be like this until the end of the season. My experience is if you are nervous, you start to play with more pressure and make more mistakes."