Steve Bruce reveals why he believes Newcastle United will avoid relegation

Bruce's side are one place – and seven points – above the Premier League’s relegation zone with 14 games left to play, and United’s head coach was asked how many points it would take to stay up after Monday night’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Asked how many points United, on 25 points, needed to stay up, Bruce said: “I really don’t know. There’s that many teams involved, a bit like the top, apart from Man City. It’s been an unbelievable year. Look, everybody’s making a fist of it down below.

"There’s six, seven, eight teams looking over their shoulder, and, of course, we’re one of them, but if we keep showing the same resilience like we’ve shown in the last month or so, we’ll be OK.”

Fourth-bottom Aston Villa stayed up with 35 points last season, while Newcastle finished in 13th place with 44 points.

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