VURNON ANITA admits Newcastle United still have to prove they can translate their improved form to an away game in order to remain in the Premier League this season.

A four-point haul from successive home matches against Swansea and Manchester City has reignited hopes of a successful survival battle, with the Magpies now just two points adrift of safety with four games remaining.

The first of those games takes them to Anfield tomorrow, and while Jurgen Klopp could well make a host of changes with Liverpool due to face Villarreal in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final next Thursday, Newcastle’s dreadful recent away record still provides cause for concern.

Rafael Benitez’s side have lost their last ten away matches in all competitions and have not won a league game at Anfield since 1994, and Anita admits they will have to improve both statistics in order to give themselves the best possible chance of beating the drop.

“It’s an away game and we need to show we can do it away as well,” said the Dutchman, who scored Newcastle’s equaliser on Tuesday night. “We need the same intensity and fighting spirit.

“We just need to keep going. We’re not there yet, we know that. We need to take it step by step, game by game, and work hard like the last two games and it will come for us.

“We know that in the position we’re in, we need to fight and we need to do it together, and I think we showed that (against Manchester City).”

Anita has successfully deputised for injured right-back Daryl Janmaat in each of the last two games, with Jamaal Lascelles, Chancel Mbemba and Paul Dummett forming the rest of a much-improved back four.

It remains to be seen how the new-look formation copes with an away game against a Liverpool team that smashed four goals past Everton on Wednesday, but Anita has been impressed with the way in which Benitez has improved his side’s organisation since replacing Steve McClaren.

“We are well organised and he has been very clear to everybody,” he said. “You see it in the last two games that it came out great.

“Everybody knows he has been at big clubs, so he knows what he is talking about. But it is up to the players to show it on the pitch and we did that.”

Tomorrow’s game will mark Benitez’s second return to Anfield since leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2010, and Reds midfielder Lucas Leiva is looking forward to being reacquainted with his former boss.

“I have no doubt he will get a very good reception,” said Lucas. “He was very successful here and the fans appreciate what he did for the club.

“For me, it will be very special to meet him again because he was the manager who brought me here and who helped me a lot, especially in my first two seasons. So I will always be grateful.”