Jonás Gutiérrez confident of Premier League survival

Apr 25 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

JONÁS Gutiérrez is confident Newcastle United can avoid relegation this season having extricated himself from a far greater mess three years ago.

Thanks to the whims of the television schedulers, the Magpies’ situation could be even more dire by the time they face Portsmouth on Monday night. In the worst case scenario they would be just two points off the bottom of the Premier League.

As things stand, they have a four-point gap to make up on 17th place in the last five matches of the season. It will be a new situation to some of those in United’s dressing room, but the winger has experienced worse.

Gutiérrez was part of the Real Mallorca team which had the odds – and the fixture list – stacked against them as they battled to escape relegation from La Liga in 2005-06.

"My first season at Mallorca was probably even tougher than this," recalled the 26-year- old, one of Newcastle’s star performers until seemingly running out of steam in the second half of his debut season. "We were in the relegation zone by two points with four games to play, and two of those were against Valencia and Real Madrid. At the time, they were two of the best teams in the whole of Europe, never mind Spain.

"We knew we would probably have to win at least three of our last four matches to stay up, and in the end we beat both Valencia and Real Madrid and won one more game. It was a really good achievement from where we were in the table.

"This is similar – we are in the same sort of trouble with five games left – but I am confident we can have the same outcome. If that happens, I will be happy."

Mallorca finished 2005-06 in 12th, four points above the La Liga relegation zone, thanks largely to 2-1 wins over second-placed Real Madrid and third-placed Valencia.

After Pompey, United’s remaining games are against a Liverpool team fighting for the Premier League title, a Middlesbrough side alongside them in the bottom three, Fulham – closing in on the Europa League – and at Aston Villa, whose fate may have been determined before the final game of the season kicks off.