RAFA Benitez insists he has made crystal clear to his under-performing Newcastle players the devastating consequences of suffering relegation from the Premier League.

A first win under their new Spanish manager will go a long way to heading off the very real danger of dropping into the Championship for the second time in seven years, when the Geordies travel to Norwich City looking to cut the three-point deficit to the fourth-bottom Canaries, who were swept aside 6-2 on Tyneside in October.

Second-bottom Newcastle are effectively in a mini-league with Sunderland and Alex Neil's side, with only one of the troubled trio set to avoid the drop and the crippling £100m hit incurred through lost TV revenue, in addition to the sweeping cuts it would lead to for behind the scenes staff.

Benitez has reassured supporters his players have been made fully aware of the ramifications of failing to make it out of the bottom three, both on an individual level and to the club, and he said: "I have spoken to all of them, and they realise it is important. They are professionals, and they know that we are responsible for the situation, they know they have to do their best to change things."

A mass exodus of players is expected should the worst happen as the club will be forced to slash its wage bill in an attempt to adapt to the harsh financial realities of life outside the top flight. Benitez warned his players leaving with a relegation on their CV would be highly damaging, and added: "It will not be easy to say 'oh I will go.' The players lose value. I don't think that anyone wants to go down because it will be bad for everyone if we do.

“It's not just bad for their CV. Because we are professionals, it is the money, they have to think about their family, and it's not easy when you're not doing well at your job to get a better job than where you are now.”

Newcastle haven't earned three points at Carrow Road in the league for more than 20 years, but despite today's visit being labelled 'must win' in some quarters, Benitez doesn't agree.

With seven games remaining after the trip, he added: "Some of the fans are thinking we have to win and if not that's the end, but I'm not convinced about that. There's still a lot of football to play after we've been to Norwich."

Benitez insists he has full confidence in goalkeeper Karl Darlow, who will start only his second Premier League game in place of the injured Rob Elliot as Newcastle look to avoid what would be an unwanted club record eighth consecutive away defeat in the Premier League.

The 25-year-old failed to convince in his top flight debut when he was at fault for the goal in a 1-0 defeat at West Brom in December after coming in as a late replacement when Elliot was laid low by illness. But Benitez has no qualms at turning to the former Nottingham Forest stopper, with England Under-19 Freddie Woodman as back-up on the bench. He said: "Karl's mentally right to come in. He's a confident individual and we know that he can do it.

"He's not played a lot in the Premier League but he has plenty of Championship experience and from what we've seen in training he's a good keeper with good qualities. It's a blow to lose Rob but Karl is ready to come in and do a job for us."

With Jack Colback starting the first of a two match ban, and Paul Dummett and Massadio Haidara both out injured, Moussa Sissoko is again set to figure at left back, after the French midfielder filled in there towards the end of the Tyne-Wear derby.

Fabricio Coloccini remains at least a week away from returning from a calf injury that has kept the skipper out since mid-February, but Daryl Janmaat is expected to play after recovering from a knee problem sustained in the 1-1 draw with Sunderland last month. Benitez added: "We'll have to make a shift at left-back, but we'll decide that after our final training session before the game.

"I had a conversation with Moussa yesterday and said 'listen, you are so important, even if you have to play as a striker or a keeper or maybe as a left full back' so yesterday we were practising with him in this position. If you ask him what he'd prefer, he'd say he wants to play as a number 10 or a winger but he knows he's a key player for us and if he has to do it, he will.

"We still have one or two problems, but the injury situation is looking much better which is encouraging."