RAFAEL BENITEZ has refused to give any assurances about his future beyond the end of this week, with Newcastle seemingly destined to spend next season in the Championship.

Benitez signed a three-year deal when he replaced Steve McClaren two months ago, but his contract contains a release clause that enables him to walk away in the event of relegation.

Newcastle’s demotion will be confirmed if Sunderland beat Everton on Wednesday, but even if Sam Allardyce’s side fail to pick up all three points in two days’ time, Newcastle will still have to beat Tottenham on Sunday and hope Sunderland fail to win at Watford in order to survive.

There is a chance Benitez could opt to remain to oversee a rebuilding job in the Championship, and there have been some optimistic noises on that score in that last couple of weeks with senior players privately hinting they believe the Spaniard could stay no matter what and rumours of some long-term plans to secure a base in the North-East.

But with speculation linking him to possible vacancies at Everton, Valencia and the Spanish national side refusing to die down, Benitez pointedly refused to provide any guarantees over his future at the weekend.

When asked whether he would remain if relegation was confirmed, he replied: “I still think we have a chance (of staying up), so I will continue with that idea in my head.”

It could be argued that Benitez has to cling on to the possibility of survival, but it is still telling that, when offered an opportunity to put speculation over his future to bed, he opted to dodge the issue.

He was more willing to discuss the failures that saw Newcastle become the only team to fail to beat Aston Villa in either of their two matches this season, a damning statistic that strongly suggests they deserve to spend next season in the second tier.

Having failed to create a single meaningful opportunity during a desperate first half at Villa Park, they threatened after the break as Jack Colback fired over from a position close to the penalty spot and Aleksandar Mitrovic lobbed onto the roof of the net before directing two headers wide of the target.

Their performance was way short of what was required though, and Benitez conceded the enormity of the situation might have got to his players.

“I think that we didn’t play well, maybe because we had too much anxiety,” he said. “The players were tense and we couldn’t do what we wanted.

“There was a better reaction in the second half and the team was creating some chances, and at least we were getting close to the box and pushing and pushing. But when you have so many people defending behind the ball, you cannot find a clear chance.”