Newcastle’ Jack Colback says hard work is the key to success under Steve McClaren

And he believes more hard work is needed to see off struggling Aston Villa tomorrow.

The Magpies have been boosted by successive wins against Liverpool and Tottenham, and Colback says he and his team-mates must repeat their efforts to repeat their results.

“He (McClaren) has highlighted that when we work hard and run as much or more than the opposition, we tend to get a positive result,” said Colback.

“We did that against Liverpool, and it’ll be interesting to see the stats (from the Tottenham game).

“That’s the bare minimum – the workrate.

“We’ve got the quality in the squad to score goals.”

Strikes from Aleksander Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez gave Newcastle victory at Spurs, following up their 2-0 win at home to Liverpool.

Those wins were much-needed after the 5-1 thrashing at Crystal Palace, which left the Tynesiders deep in relegation trouble.

But six points from the last two games has Newcastle looking up again, and with a chance of making it nine from nine when Remi Garde’s bottom of the table side arrive in the North East.

“We’ve got another home game now that we have to focus on,” added Colback.

“We can’t take the game lightly. Every game is difficult in this league.

“The league’s gone a bit mad with results ... any team can beat any team.

“We know it’s going to be tough.

“But we have to match that workrate, and hopefully show our quality going forward, which is what we did against Tottenham.”