KARL DARLOW is urging his Newcastle United team-mates not to throw in the towel despite their perilous position in the Premier League, and is hoping this most unpredictable of top-flight seasons still has one more dramatic twist to come.

Last weekend’s 3-2 defeat at Norwich has left Newcastle six points adrift of safety with seven games remaining, a gap that is effectively seven given their markedly inferior goal difference to the Canaries.

Rafael Benitez’s side will have to win at least three of their remaining matches to survive, and probably need four victories to give themselves a realistic chance of avoiding the drop.

Given they have only won six of their 31 games to date, that seems an unlikely prospect, but Darlow is determined to keep the faith for as long as survival remains possible.

“We have to take whatever positives we can,” said Darlow. “As long as it’s still possible, we have to keep believing. It’s shown in the Premier League this season, teams are beating teams that you didn’t think they’d beat.

“We’ve got to be optimistic and stay optimistic, and hopefully have a second-half performance like we had at Norwich when we play again away to Southampton.”

Newcastle’s second-half display at Carrow Road represented a marked improvement on their efforts before the break, and the Magpies also finished strongly in their previous game, which finished in a 1-1 draw with Sunderland.

They displayed glimpses of what they are capable of in both games, but Darlow readily admits they cannot afford to produce another slow start when they travel to St Mary’s to take on a Southampton side that have won seven of their last 12 games.

“It’s no use playing like we did after the break at Norwich,” said Darlow. “We need a first-half performance as well. We need to show 90 minutes of character.

“It was tough to take (at Norwich) because we conceded that goal on the brink of half-time, and if we’d gone in at 0-0, it might have been a different story. But the facts are we lost 3-2 and we have to deal with it and move on to the next seven games.”

Southampton midfielder Steven Davis will miss tomorrow’s game after damaging his ankle in last weekend’s defeat to Leicester, but Shane Long is available after recovering from a knee problem.

“That is a boost,” said Southampton boss Ronald Koeman. “Shane is really a different striker than most of the strikers we have. He’s fast and he really has total confidence in his game. That was showing before, and I hope that he will continue.”