JAMAAL Lascelles has dismissed claims that Newcastle are struggling to cope without Jonjo Shelvey.

Fears that the Championship promotion push under Rafael Benitez could suffer a significant blow in the midfielder's absence were again raised in the wake of a fourth home league defeat of the season to Sheffield Wednesday.

Former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton rubbed salt in the wounds when a comfortable 3-0 victory for his Brighton side over QPR saw them replace the Geordies at the summit of the table as the South Coast club head towards the final round of fixtures for 2016 with a two-point advantage.

With Shelvey starting a five-match ban, the hosts lacked invention as they were stifled with relative ease by the Owls, who earned a first league win at St James' Park for more than 20 years thanks to a second-half header from skipper Glenn Loovens.

England international Shelvey has been a virtual ever-present this season amidst Benitez's regular squad rotation, but is unavailable - barring the need for an FA Cup replay against Birmingham - until bottom club Rotherham visit Tyneside on January 21, after being hit with a hefty suspension and fine for racially abusing Wolves' Moroccan midfielder Romain Saiss during a 2-0 defeat in September.

Lascelles insists the damaging set-back to an impressive Wednesday side had little to do with the absence of the 24-year-old playmaker, despite Jack Colback failing to impress in his first start for over a month.

"Jonjo does bring something different," the Newcastle skipper said.

Insisting Benitez has enough strength in depth at his disposal to offset the near four-week loss of one of his key performers, Lascelles added: "We have players who can slot into every position. We have a really strong team and players who are wanting to play, so it’s nothing to do with that. We could play a completely different team and I’d still expect us to win."

Despite enjoying a six-point cushion over Reading in third, Newcastle's home form is providing cause for concern, with Benitez conceding that defeats to Huddersfield, Wolves, Blackburn and Wednesday at this stage is "not ideal" heading into the second half of the campaign.

The Spaniard's side have lost more on their own turf than any of the current top ten, and only seven teams in the entire division have suffered a greater number of defeats in front of their own supporters.

They have an immediate chance to dispel any doubts that the raised expectation-levels of supporters is proving a hindrance to playing at home as Nottingham Forest visit St James' Park on Friday, when the hosts could return to the top depending on the outcome as Brighton welcome Cardiff.

A Lascelles own goal against his old club proved to be the difference as nine-man Newcastle surrendered the lead to go down 2-1 at the City Ground in a stormy encounter at the outset of the month that saw goalkeeper Karl Darlow end on the losing side despite saving two penalties.

Lascelles admits the prospect of gaining revenge is an added incentive as United look to get their title push back on track, and the defender added: “We weren't up to it against Wednesday, so I’m glad we have another game around the corner. It’s a massive one for us – not just to win the three points, but also to beat them."

Forest midfielder Henri Lansbury, who was involved in the red cards for both Shelvey and Paul Dummett which were both later rescinded will be absent through injury, and Lascelles added: "Last time at their place, I felt we were a bit hard done by, and we’re really looking forward to going into that game with 11 men and having them on our turf.”