Rafa Benítez says Cardiff clash isn't 'the biggest game of the season' | OneFootball

During Friday’s pre-match conference, Newcastle boss Rafa Benítez recognised the importance of Saturday’s match against Cardiff, which features two of the Premier League’s bottom-four sides.

However, despite having a chance to get out of the relegation zone, Benítez doesn’t see the match as a ‘massive’ occasion.

“Yes, it’s a big game – just as Huddersfield was a big one, or Fulham was a big one. I think Fulham, for example, was ‘massive’.

“Some people had said: ‘This [Fulham] is the most important game of the season.’

“Then after Fulham, we were winning against Watford, Fulham were drawing and Cardiff were drawing, so we could have been eight points clear of the bottom three.

“After Fulham [they played Liverpool in between, too], which was the ‘most important game of the season’.

“So is this an important game? Yes, for sure it’s really important. But will it be the most important game of the season? Maybe it will be Huddersfield.

“Maybe it will be Fulham, the last game of the season. Hopefully not, but maybe – so we have to be ready, just in case.

“We have to carry on, we have to stay calm and to stay calm does not mean we won’t fight. We will fight until the end, but you have to fight in every single game.

“If we win, I don’t need to say too much. If you cannot, then you have to carry on.”

Newcastle have only won two matches at home this season, with Huddersfield being the only club in England’s top four divisions to have collected fewer points at home.