Steve Bruce has dismissed talk that Newcastle United's season is over in January following their FA Cup exit at the weekend.
The Magpies find themselves in a congested top-flight table with 10 points seperating fourth place all the way down to 15th spot where United sit with a game in hand on some rivals.
With a relatively tough run of games out of the way, Bruce and co face Sheff United this evening and before a home game with Leeds before the end of the month, where two victories would give them a superb platform to build on for the last four months of the campaign.
Away games at Arsenal and Everton before the end of the month also offer a chance of bonus points.
Bruce said: "You have to take the positives, we had a tough run of games.
"Again, Arsenal couldn't beat us over 90 minutes so you could say up against Liverpool and Arsenal we took two draws from an awful run of fixtures.
"The Premier League is what it is, it's very congested, there's been some crazy results up and down it.
"Arsenal had been on a bad run, Chelsea had, Liverpool had.
"You can go on and on, because that's the strength of the Premier League."
Newcastle face a Sheff United team that haven't won in the Premier League but Bruce feels the anxiety at Bramall Lane in terms of finding a victory for the Blades was eased with the FA Cup win at Bristol Rovers.
Bruce said: "They had a win at the weekend didn't they?
"They won a cup tie so that's a win.
"We were all waxing lyrical about them this time last year when they were in the top six, they took the Premier League by storm, how they did it, blah, blah, blah.
"Since lockdown they have had a tough time.
"But that's the Premier League, every team has a certain amount of quality and it is very difficult.
"So of course we have to go there with the mentality to go and win and hopefully we can win on the night."
