RAFA BENITEZ greeted a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park last night by suggesting Everton are likely to stay ahead of Newcastle United in the Premier League unless there is greater financial investment in his squad.

The Magpies manager delivered a short and sweet press conference on Merseyside, clearly frustrated by his team’s failure to capitalise on good positions and pull themselves level after falling behind to Theo Walcott’s winner five minutes into the second half.

Everton have climbed up to eighth and four points clear of Newcastle with four matches remaining, although the bigger picture is that Benitez has effectively kept top-flight football on Tyneside for a further year despite spending loads of money.

The former Liverpool boss plans talks with Mike Ashley in the coming weeks to determine how to attack a summer when the manager wants to make Newcastle a more formidable force at the top level.

“The final pass and in the final third we didn’t take our chances,” said Benitez. “That is the difference when you have Walcott or Wayne Rooney on these wages, they can make the difference.

He added: “Do the numbers. If you do the numbers it is very easy. The difference is they have players with experience in the Premier League. I don’t know how much they spent this year exactly but it is very simple.

“For us to come here and expect to beat them it is not easy. We have a chance but normally when you go away against these teams it is not easy to get anything.”

Benitez has already been linked with the Arsenal job following Arsene Wenger’s decision to leave, but he has regularly outlined a desire to take Newcastle onto the next level.

Defeat at Everton arrived on the day when it emerged Ashley is still looking to sell but has raised his asking price again. Talks broke down in January when Amanda Staveley’s reputed £350m offer was made up of a number of conditions.

He has raised the valuation again to around the £400m mark, which was what he originally was asking for a year ago until Staveley’s interest became known.

The price-tag was thought to have been lowered because of Newcastle’s lowly position in the Premier League when relegation was a possibility. The huge turnaround and safety has meant Ashley can drive up the price again.

Newcastle are almost certain to stay up despite the end of a four match winning run; they still require that one point as things stand when West Brom visit St James’ Park on Saturday to make staying up official.

That could easily have arrived at Goodison Park had Newcastle shown greater focus in the attacking part of the field as they looked to overturn Walcott’s opener.

Benitez said: “Both teams didn’t have very clear chances, but I think we could have done better with the final pass in the final third, it might have been different for us if we had.

“This kind of game, when they are very physical and the referee allows them to do these things, they are at home and they have quality, and they took their chance. We didn’t take our chances. When I talk about chances I talk about final passes too.

“To be here, to play against this team, and to expect we have to beat them easily, is not right. They have very good players who can make the difference. We battled and we fought until the end. We had the chance to draw, maybe even win but we lost against a good team. That’s it.”

Benitez gave Islam Slimani a first start and he came through an hour before he was replaced by Dwight Gayle in attack.

The Newcastle boss said: “Islam worked hard, the understanding between him and the rest of the team will take some time. In terms of effort I was happy with him. I say it again, we had chances.”

Former Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce was pleased with Everton's display after a week when he has had to deal with survey-gate – after the marketing department asked for fans to rate how much they trust him in charge out of ten.

Allardyce said: “Controversy was always caused by an error caused by one of our employees, he realises it wasn’t the right thing to do. As a manager you deal with it and move on. I don’t dwell on it. I don’t have any gripes. Let’s not let it happen again. The players did all the talking, putting us up to eighth.”

Allardyce conducted his press conference in front of a robot as it was the first virtual mascot, allowing a young Everton supporter, Jack, to see everything through the robot because ill-health meant he couldn’t carry out the role himself.