Ayoze Perez confident his '˜connection' with Salomon Rondon can fire Newcastle up table

Ayoze Perez is confident his strike partnership with Salomon Rondon can continue to improve.
Salomon Rondon, Ki and Ayoze Perez.Salomon Rondon, Ki and Ayoze Perez.
Salomon Rondon, Ki and Ayoze Perez.

The Newcastle United attacker scored his second goal of the season on Sunday in the heartbreaking 2-1 defeat against Wolves at St James’s Park.

The Spaniard got on the end of a superb cross from Rondon to head home the equaliser after Diego Jota had opened the scoring for the visitors.

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An injury-time Matt Docherty winner left the Magpies deflated, having played for half an hour with 10 men, but Perez believes his understanding with four-goal Rondon is cause for optimism.

The duo looked a threat throughout the match, with the Venezuela international leading the line expertly with Perez in support.

Perez admits he is enjoying the new partnership, saying: “Yeah we are knowing each other more and more which is good.

“He (Rondon) is a great player, he makes it easier to play next to him so it’s really good, I’m enjoying that position next to him.

“The idea is we can bring goals to the team.

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“That’s our job and connecting with each other, that’s a good connection.”

Perez was joined in supporting Rondon by Christian Atsu as Rafa Benitez again opted for a 3-4-3 formation, similar to the tactics he employed at Burnley and Everton in midweek.

And Perez – who came off the bench at Goodison Park on Wednesday – believes the system was working well until DeAndre Yedlin’s red card changed the complexion of the game.

“We’ve been working a for a couple of days with that,” the 25-year-old insisted.

“I think it worked, we did well until the sending off.

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“I think we were controlling the game, having the ball and trying to go forward but then that happened and it becomes harder.

“We were doing well, we were doing good between the lines, we were quite comfortable with that line of five.

“We were doing well overall but these things make a difference and it was harder to go forward but still we shouldn’t have lost the game.

“It’s really frustrating, they (Wolves) didn’t deserve to win.

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“I think we were better than then 11 v 11 but the sending off makes a massive difference.

“Still they didn’t create so much that and it wasn’t fair at all.

“I think we were doing well, it was a better performance compared to the one against West Ham.”

The defeat, United’s second successive loss at home after the 3-0 reverse against West Ham, has intensified the pressure on the next two games, away to Huddersfield Town on Saturday before a home clash against Fulham on Saturday, December 22.

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Both sides are below Newcastle in the Premier League table, and offer an opportunity for the Magpies to put daylight between themselves and the relegation zone.

“There’s not pressure,” insisted Perez.

“If we play as we were playing (against Wolves), until that moment we were doing well, we’re going to have chances for sure.

“We know what to do with the ball which is important and these kind of games are really important.

“With 11 against 11 I think we could have won that game but at the end we didn’t we have to accept it and move on.”