AYOZE PEREZ claims Newcastle United’s frustration at failing to claim all three points from Sunday’s game at Southampton underlines just how far the club has come since it was last in the Premier League.

Newcastle’s players were displaying a series of glum faces as they trudged towards the team bus outside St Mary’s on Sunday night, with Southampton having twice pegged them back to deny them a second away win of the season. Perez knows, however, that things could have been much worse.

Eighteen months ago, the Spaniard was part of a Newcastle team that capitulated at Southampton as they crashed out of the Premier League. Some dreadful defending saw them concede two goals before the interval, a heated dressing-room argument ended with Daryl Janmaat breaking two fingers as he punched a dressing-room door, and the final 3-1 scoreline left the Magpies rooted in the relegation zone.

The team on that day featured the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum, Moussa Sissoko and Andros Townsend, but while it might have looked good on paper, it was already in a state of complete disarray. The squad was divided, confidence had disappeared, and as Jamaal Lascelles passionately pointed out, commitment levels were nowhere near where they should have been.

The contrast with the current situation is stark, so while Sunday’s failure to hold on for a victory was annoying, the fact Newcastle’s players were able to get themselves into a winning position in the first place speaks volumes for their progress under Rafael Benitez.

“We were not happy to be leaving with just a point, and that is a massive difference from the last time we were here,” said Perez. “You can see the big difference straight away. Some people might say this is a lesser squad because we had a lot of big players that season, but everything about the way we are is different.

“We lost that game (in 2016) and it was an absolutely horrendous afternoon. It was not good at all, but you can feel the difference to how we are now straight away. It is a completely different dressing room now.

“We appreciate where we are, in the Premier League, and we want to look after that. We want to work as hard as we can because we know where we have come from. Working like that is the only way to make sure what happened before does not happen again.”

Sunday’s game saw Perez score his first goal of the season, and while he has spoken extensively this season about his willingness to sacrifice some of his attacking instincts for the good of the team, every forward feels better when they are hitting the back of the net.

Perez’s game has changed significantly since he first arrived from Tenerife. He tends to play deeper now, although on Sunday he started alongside Joselu in a two-man strike force, and he spends much of his time hassling and harrying opponents, and linking play between midfield and attack.

Nevertheless, he accepts that, to a large extent, he will be judged on his goalscoring, and having broken his duck two days ago, he is confident he will get plenty more chances provided Newcastle maintain the standards they have been setting so far this season.

“It is an unbelievable feeling to have scored in the Premier League again,” said Perez. “It is amazing, and it was even better that it was an important goal. It allowed us to take the lead again, although in the end we had to settle for just one point. It is still an important thing to have scored though.

“I always know that I will get chances to score. Every game, we create chances, and that is a big positive. I think we have great movement as a team, and that helps us to create chances to score goals.

“We know where our team-mates are when we are attacking, and I think we attack well as a team. It is just about taking those chances. We scored two goals in this game, and we could have had even more with the chances at the end. But we have to take the point, and know we are moving in the right direction because we are working hard.”

Perez proved his predatory skills remain as well-honed as ever as he swooped to drive home the rebound after his initial shot had been saved by Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

He also turned provider as he delivered the second-half cross that led to Joselu hitting the crossbar, but again, much of his time was spent closing down Southampton’s defenders and tracking back to help those behind him. His work rate in the opening eight games of the season has been remarkable, but like the rest of his team-mates, he accepts it is what is required if Newcastle are to retain a comfortable cushion to the bottom three.

“This is the only way to play,” he said. “We all know what the manager wants us to do, and we have to do it. You can see the results you get if you do that.

“From the keeper to the strikers, we have to work as a team. We all work hard and give everything we can – if we do that, we know we are going to have chances. We try to do our best when we are on the ball, but we know we have to do the other side of our jobs too. We are enjoying it, and we are working really hard as a team. That is going to be key this season.”