GOALKEEPER Shay Given has warned his Newcastle United teammates they must find an instant remedy to their travel sickness, before it costs them a Champions League place.

The Magpies have picked up just two victories on their travels in the Premiership this season - back-to-back wins at Middlesbrough and Fulham way back in October.

While their home record of ten wins puts them alongside Chelsea and Manchester United at the top, the away form that has blighted their season is bottom-six at best.

Their Champions League hopes may now rest on Sir Bobby Robson's side picking up at least two further away wins this season, and Given is demanding improvements.

"If you want to get back into the Champions League, our away form is really not good enough," said the Republic of Ireland international.

"The simple fact is that we've got to do better away from home. We've been very, very poor (on our travels).

"Last year, we won nine times and this season there have only been two and the last one was way back in October.

"We've just got to try and get some victories on the board. We've drawn a lot, which is okay, but we need to be picking up three points."

The real crunch game is against Liverpool at Anfield and Given, like many, believes the fight for the Champions League place will go down to the last game of the campaign.

Given said: "It looks like it's going to go right down to the wire. Liverpool aren't running away with it.

"It's more and more looking like the last kick of the last game of the season. But you can't write off the other teams like Birmingham City and Aston Villa because they have done so well."

After last season's third-placed Premiership finish and a European campaign that saw Newcastle reach the second stage of the Champions League, Given was surprised that no new faces were brought in along with Lee Bowyer.

Failure to mount a serious challenge for the title is a blow to the Irishman and he believes Newcastle must strengthen this summer if they are not to fall further behind Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea.

He said: "It's a shame we're not challenging for the title because that's what we set out for at the start of the season and we're so far behind the top three that it's pretty bad, you know.

"I'm not the manager and I'm not the chief scout, but we do need to bring in a couple just to improve on last season."