RAFAEL BENITEZ is not taking much notice of the fellow managers predicting Newcastle United will runaway with the Championship title ahead of a Friday night out when he needs his players to return to winning ways.

The Magpies will head to the City Ground tonight when goalkeeper Karl Darlow and skipper Jamaal Lascelles will face Nottingham Forest for the first time since leaving. The pair’s appearance at the club where it all started will add extra spice to the occasion, particularly after Lascelles has admitted he will ‘definitely be celebrating’ if he finds the net.

Newcastle are looking for someone to score against Forest in a bid to prevent a third successive defeat, even though Tuesday’s was a penalty shoot-out defeat to Premier League strugglers Hull City in the EFL quarter-final.

And Benitez’s side have seen a five-point gap at the top of the table reduced back down to two points following last Saturday’s home defeat to Blackburn that ended a nine-match winning run.

The Newcastle boss is satisfied with the progress so far, but also believes he has to guard against over-complacency particularly given how his rivals are telling him that they will go up as champions.

Benitez said “It’s so difficult talking with other managers, after every game they are telling me the same (that Newcastle will win the league), so when you expect an easy game you have a very difficult game.

“When you expect a difficult game sometimes it is easier. It changes every week, it changes every game because of the two games a week. The style of football changes too, the team you play against. You have to be ready.

“After winning so many games in a row people didn’t expect the defeat against Blackburn so we need to get back to the good habits.”

Benitez has spent the majority of his career having to deal with the pressures of succeeding at some of the top clubs across Europe, but it was not always like that for him and he referred back to his time at Extremadura when it was on the other foot.

However, Benitez is appreciative of the fact Newcastle have a strong squad capable of winning the Championship – even if he tries to treat every game as an individual challenge rather than target a seasonal goal.

The former Real Madrid and Liverpool boss believes his players, who may not have had the same demands placed on them in the past, is confident his squad is made up of the right mentality.

Benitez said: “Because we have been doing so well in the last months, maybe the players understand now that it is like this, so we have to make sure we approach the game with this confidence, but at the same time without over-confidence.

“I'm sure I have lost three games in a row in the past, but to draw against a Premier League team and lose on penalties and in the way we did it for me is not like a defeat.

“It's a defeat because you cannot progress and you cannot play in the next round, but in terms of what we did on the pitch, at least you see your team is strong enough. We were strong enough and now we have to show the same against Nottingham Forest.”

Forest are closer to the relegation zone than they are to the top six but are unbeaten in three and have won the last two against Barnsley and Ipswich Town.

There is sure to be a hostile atmosphere inside the City Ground tonight, with Lascelles likely to take the brunt given his Derby roots and the fact he has indicated he will not be afraid to enjoy the moment if he scores in front of his old supporters.

He said: “I have a lot of memories there. I was there from the age of eight and they brought me through the ranks. I don't know how they will take me, boos or claps.

“If I score I am definitely celebrating. Obviously when I signed for Newcastle I was loaned back to Forest and they didn't give me the greatest of times during that year - it was a strange year.

“I was a Newcastle player, but I was playing for my old club and that was hard to get my head around. It will be nice to go back. Some of the boys I played with are still there. We can be friends off the pitch but on it they are my enemy.”

Lascelles and Darlow joined Newcastle in a £7m deal in the summer of 2014 but spent the following season at Forest on loan when, according to fans, Lascelles didn’t play as well as he had previously for the club.

But he has become a key player under the Benitez revolution and was made captain in the close-season, so there is no split-loyalties. Lascelles wants to claim the three points in the promotion push.

He said: “We want to bounce back and make a statement. We have done a run, lost one, and gone on another run. I don't want the fans to turn on us or the players to get their heads down. Everyone has to stay calm and stay positive.”

Newcastle are still without defender Grant Hanley and midfielder Jack Colback through injury, while it was confirmed that full-back Jesus Gamez will miss six weeks after surgery on his broken collar bone.