JAMAAL LASCELLES has been told to forget about all the England talk and focus on maintaining his strong form in Newcastle United’s surge up the Premier League table.

Lascelles has enjoyed being in the spotlight over the last few weeks, having scored both winning goals in the victories over Swansea City and Stoke City.

The 23-year-old is the youngest captain in the Premier League in a side boasting the youngest average age – and yet the Magpies have climbed up to fourth with five matches gone.

Not only has Lascelles been finding the net at important times, the centre-back has also performed impressively at the heart of the Newcastle defence; leading by example it could easily be argued.

But Benitez, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Brighton, said: "When you are doing really well, I say to players it's important to concentrate on their jobs. I have done it to him and others. If they are doing well, what they have to do is keep doing the same things.

"I have years of experience. It's the most difficult thing. You are doing well and everyone is praising you and praising you, sometimes if you are young, you lose your focus. It's to remind them that this is the way to continue being praised.

"On Thursday I had another conversation with him and another player. We were talking about commitment and hard work and all these things. He's happy with this approach.

“It's quite easy for me to tell him 'you have to keep working hard', because he was doing it anyway. We're trying to improve other things in his game, but in terms of this - his mentality and character - he's fine.”

The biggest positive for Benitez is how Lascelles has responded since losing his place for the opening game of the season against Tottenham.

The former Nottingham Forest defender was only named on the bench for that game but was soon thrust back into the back four because of injuries to Florian Lejeune and Paul Dummett.

Since then he has deserved to keep his spot in the team, just as he did last year when he was a mainstay of the Newcastle side that secured the Championship title and promotion to the Premier League.

Benitez said: "You have to do it (leave players out). The main thing now is for me to explain to everyone. We have 26 players in the squad. You have to pick 11, 18, and the rest have to go to the stands.

"Some players understand and react well. Some of them will be complaining. The only way to change my mind is to train well so you can play. At the same time, even if you are training well, if the team is winning still they have to wait. If they make the mistake of not working hard, maybe when they have the chance they are not ready. You try to explain that.”

Lascelles was named skipper last season by Benitez aged just 22. The experienced Spanish boss had seen enough of him during his early weeks in charge – when he was unable to prevent relegation from the top-flight – to believe he was captain material.

Having dealt with last season and this season, so far, with the armband on him, it is understandable that England manager Gareth Southgate has identified him for a call-up in the future if he continues to develop in the right manner.

Benitez said: "He's someone that has the potential (for England) and has to keep working the same way that he's working and he will improve.

“How much will he improve? I don't know. But he has the potential and that's quite positive. He's a big lad and has a lot of attributes (needed) to be successful in the Premier League. But he's still a young player."

While Lascelles has blossomed, Benitez has now got into a situation where he can leave midfielder Jonjo Shelvey out. It would have seemed highly unlikely that the £10m midfielder could be left on the sidelines a few weeks ago before serving a suspension, but now Isaac Hayden and Mikel Merino deserve to stay ahead of him.

Shelvey must show the sort of approach which earned Lascelles a recall to prove he is worthy of winning his place back – even if that isn’t against Brighton tomorrow.

Benitez said: “It's something they have to understand. I have had another word with Jonjo and he knows my idea and he knows the way he must change things in every training session to show the quality he has and what we are expecting from him, so the reaction of the players is fine.

“He can change it because Jonjo is a good player, and also Mohamed Diame when he has come in, he has worked very hard, so I don't have any problem to change players if it's necessary, and we will see.

“The training sessions, if I have to pick a couple of players for the training sessions, it's quite difficult because they are doing well, all of them.

"But after, you have to analyse your team, how we are doing and the other team and say, 'Okay, I will pick these two'. But I don't have any problem to play one or the other one because they are training really well.”