It was a day to forget for Newcastle United yesterday after they were thrashed 4-0 by Liverpool at Anfield.

Goals from Dejan Lovren, Mohamed Salah, Xherdan Shaqiri and Fabinho condemned the Magpies to a humiliating defeat in a game where Rafael Benitez made several changes to his team following their last outing against Fulham.

The defeat leaves Newcastle 15th in the Premier League as the Tyneside club look set to spend the remainder of the campaign near the foot of the table.

Looking at the bigger picture, though, it is hard to imagine Benitez's men finding themselves in real relegation danger or their recent encounter with Liverpool meaning much come the end of the season.

The Premier League leaders are likely to once again brush aside all of the relegation candidates in the second part of the season, meaning head-to-heads between Newcastle and those teams will probably play the deciding factor in regards to who beats the drop.

And given Newcastle have already shown they are capable of beating the likes of Huddersfield Town and Burnley this season, they are in the driving seat, especially with Benitez at the helm and the current point deference between them and such outfits.

A very disappointing result indeed, but Newcastle's loss at Anfield is not one supporters should dwell on with much more important fixtures to come.