AYOZE PEREZ admits Newcastle United’s weekend game with Brighton will play a “massive” role in shaping their season, and concedes the Magpies still have to prove they can break down opponents from the bottom half of the table.

Newcastle host the Seagulls on Saturday sitting in 19th position in the Premier League standings, three points adrift of safety, having failed to win any of their opening eight league games.

Five of those matches have pitted them against teams in the established ‘big six’, but it is the other three that will be causing most alarm ahead of this weekend’s game with a Brighton side who are 13th in the table.

In their matches against Cardiff City, Crystal Palace and Leicester City, Newcastle failed to score a single goal as they picked up just two points.

Kenedy’s last-minute penalty miss deflected attention from what was a laboured attacking display at Cardiff, and the Magpies rarely looked like breaking down a resolute Crystal Palace defence at Selhurst Park.

Rafael Benitez’s side were brushed aside with alarming ease when they lined up against Leicester, and while Brighton are not quite at the level of the Foxes, Chris Hughton’s side will travel to St James’ Park buoyed by their recent home win over West Ham.

That game saw them record their first clean sheet of the season, and Hughton will almost certainly be adopting a defensive approach when he sends his side into battle in two days’ time.

Newcastle have failed to score in two of their last three matches, and while they might have put up some spirited displays against the Premier League’s big boys, Perez accepts he and his team-mates have to prove they have the ability to break down well-drilled defences when they face teams in and around them in the table.

“We have to make sure we perform as we have done against the top sides,” said the Spaniard, who has started all bar one of Newcastle’s league games this term. “We need the same energy, intensity and focus we showed against some of the big teams when we approach these games against sides we maybe can win against.

“We need to be sure we can do it against these kind of teams who are less open and more defensively solid. We need to be disciplined defensively, but better on the ball.

“We know we can do it, but it’s a different kind of challenge to what we’ve faced already this season. Brighton are a good team, very organised, but we have to believe in ourselves.”

Having had the whole of the international break to stew on this month’s dramatic 3-2 defeat at Manchester United, no one in the Newcastle camp is attempting to downplay the importance of Saturday’s game.

Rafael Benitez’s future has even been called into question in some quarters, with a weekend report suggesting Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers is being considered as an alternative option, and while it would be stretching things to suggest the Newcastle manager’s job is on the line, things could get extremely fraught if the club’s winless run continues beyond the weekend.

If Mike Ashley is serious about wanting to sell the club, his chances of attracting a buyer hinge on avoiding relegation. There are a number of parties in the United States interested in investing in Newcastle, with former Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon working with New York-based Rockefeller Capital Management in an attempt to attract investors at the same time as a rival group of potential bidders has made an initial contact with Ashley’s associates. However, no one will be doing anything until the Magpies’ Premier League survival is guaranteed.

That looks a long way off at the moment, but Perez insists confidence levels within the squad remain intact despite the traumatic start to the season.

“The manager and players really believe we're close to getting positive results - now we just need to do it,” he said. “This game (against Brighton) is going to be massive. We are playing at home, and three points are available that we can win. Over the two-week international break, we have been determined to make sure we are ready for this challenge.”

Last season, Brighton claimed a goalless draw at Gallowgate, and having made crucial saves from Dwight Gayle and Isaac Hayden to help secure the stalemate, the south coast club’s goalkeeper, Mathew Ryan, is adamant his side will be heading to the North-East with nothing to fear.

“We managed to take four points off them last season with a draw away and a win at home, so we can go up there with some confidence,” said Ryan. “I was happy to make a couple of saves and keep a clean sheet in the game up there, and I enjoyed the challenge. Even though we couldn’t get the winner, I thoroughly enjoyed the match.”