We moved into the top four thanks to the 1-0 win with the goal scored in the second half by another member of the back-four, Marcos Alonso. At the other end of the pitch they prevented the Tyneside team from having a single shot on-target.‘We can see everyone in training working hard, we now know each other and you can see everyone improving,’ said Kurt Zouma about the defensive performance. ‘We want to be very difficult to beat and a very good team playing, so that is what we are trying to do and we are working hard in training on what we do on the pitch.‘It was a very good win for us, a very difficult game when you have Newcastle coming here and putting everyone at the back and trying to counter-attack. We stayed focused but the first half was a bit difficult because they were compact.‘The second half we created some more spaces and then we had more chances to score. We scored one and we could have scored more but the most important is the three points and the clean sheet as well.’

Zouma said that despite Newcastle’s resolute rearguard, he always believed the chances to score would come.‘The manager said at half-time we have to keep moving them from side to side and try to find the space in between the lines, so that is what we did, and it could have been maybe two or three goals more. But we are happy with the goal and the clean sheet as well.‘It is difficult to move this kind of block but you have to carry on and keep going and have the belief.’The team were left celebrating a fifth win in a row.‘Since the beginning of the season we were playing very well but at the beginning we were not lucky and now the luck is coming for us, and we are also working very hard.‘The team is very talented and once we know each other, we play. We put 100 per cent in every time and we are very difficult to beat.’

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