NEWCASTLE UNITED manager Rafael Benitez believes the competition for places within his squad will ensure complacency does not creep in after the Magpies pulled clear at the top of Championship.

Goals from Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie gave the Magpies a comfortable 3-0 win over Ipswich Town and moved them three points clear of second-placed Brighton.

Benitez kept up with tradition and made three changes to his side despite Tuesday night’s win over Barnsley, and it was the recalled Perez who stood out with two superb goals and an assist.

The Magpies boss is not afraid of rotating his squad even if it means changing a winning side, and the Spaniard believes keeping his players on their toes will ensure they don’t get complacent in the battle for promotion.

"When you are top of the table and you are doing well, you have to be careful and make sure that you don't have over-confidence or complacency,” said Benitez, whose side take on Preston in the EFL Cup fourth round tomorrow night.

"You can tell the players though, and still sometimes you cannot control everything.

"They need to be on their toes and if they know that if they don't perform well, someone else will be there.

"So I think this positive competition is the key to keep the momentum and keep the team winning.

"I would say not just that we have two players or three for every position, but that they were training well and they are competing really well.

"That is why still you can play some other players and they can perform.”

Benitez is likely to make more changes for the first of a double-header against in form Preston and although complacency is a big reason, so too is avoiding injuries.

He said: "Sometimes you have managers that have a good squad but they try to play the same players all the time - 13 or 14 players - and then little by little you lose the other players.

"So we try to keep everybody as fit and keen as possible.

"We know keeping 25 to 27 players happy is impossible but, as much as we can, we must keep them all thinking that they could play and they could perform and they could give something."

Benitez brought Perez back into the side in place of Mo Diame and the Spaniard repaid his fellow countryman with a well-taken brace.

Perez has been in and out of the side after initially struggling with the physical nature of the Championship, but Benitez believes the 23-year-old is now playing to his strengths.

"He is a clever player but we know that he has to be stronger and then to use his quality and movement,” said Benitez.

"He needs to manage the games like he did against Ipswich. He knew exactly what we were expecting him to do and he did it perfectly.

"Also, he has been working hard so when you have a player with talent who is also working hard, it's a bonus for the team.”

Perez’s double and Ritchie’s superb finish demonstrated that the Magpies don’t need to rely on leading scorer Dwight Gayle and Benitez believes that will be another key component to success this season.

He said: "It's important for the team because you have more players who can score and then the opponents don't know who to mark and deal with.

"If only Gayle is scoring, then they will think it is easier to focus marking him because then they will think we will not score.

"But we have different players who can score goals and so this makes it more difficult for them.

"Also, for the confidence of the team, it's good to have different options and they can trust different players to score goals."