ALAN Shearer last night admitted that Newcastle must win their three remaining home games if they are to avoid a humiliating relegation to the Championship.

Yesterday’s 1-0 defeat at Tottenham left the Magpies four points adrift of safety with just five games of the season to play.

Three of those matches are at St James’ Park – against Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Fulham – and Shearer admits his side must take maximum points in all of them if they are to retain their Premier League status.

Away games at Liverpool and Aston Villa will offer an opportunity to further bolster Newcastle’s points total, but having claimed just one point from three matches since taking over at St James’ Park, Shearer accepts that another slip-up on home soil could prove fatal.

“We have to win those three home games,” said the Newcastle boss, after Darren Bent’s first-half strike condemned the Magpies to their first defeat at White Hart Lane since 2005. “I think we have to win all three of them now – they are all must-win games.

“First and foremost, we have to win against Portsmouth next Monday. I can’t get too concerned about the other two yet, but they’ll obviously be massively important provided we win the first one.

“It’s now absolutely vital that we take three points against Portsmouth and go from there. We always knew we would have to win the Portsmouth game, though, so that hasn’t changed.”

Nevertheless, with Sunderland having beaten Hull on Saturday, yesterday’s defeat has left Newcastle in a much more precarious position than the one Shearer inherited 19 days ago.

By the time they entertain Portsmouth next Monday, other results could have left them seven points from safety with just 15 more available, but their rookie manager insists his confidence remains intact.

“I still believe that we have enough,” said Shearer. “I knew the size of the task going into it. I knew that the players were low on confidence, and I knew there were a lot of injuries. But I still believed, and still do believe, that we have enough to get ourselves out of it.”

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp agrees, and feels that Hull City could be the side that get Newcastle out of their current predicament.

“They’ve still got a big chance of staying up,” said Redknapp. “They’ve got three winnable home games and they will be all-important.

They’re not in a very good position, but I still think they’ve got every chance of getting out of it. Let’s be honest, Hull can’t win a game.

“St James’ Park can be an intimidating place, and they have to use that in their favour. They have three games now where they’re going to have to lift the roof off the place. If they do that, they can win all three games.”

While yesterday’s match ended in disappointment, it at least provided a hint of how Newcastle will surely have to play if they are to claim nine points out of nine in the home games that remain.

The Magpies improved markedly once Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka replaced Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan, and while the pair were not fit enough to start, they should be available from the kick-off against Portsmouth.

Last season, Kevin Keegan fielded Owen behind Martins and Viduka, and watched his side win four games out of five to guarantee their Premier League survival.

With Newcastle’s plight even more serious this time around, Shearer will be hoping for more of the same.

“I thought when we played Owen, Martins and Viduka together we were more of a threat,” he said Shearer.

“But we have to try to get them fit to start a game.

“Oba and Mark weren’t fit to start today, but I had them on the bench to get a reaction if we needed it.

“I think that happened and I would like to have all three available for next Monday.”

He would also like to see his side start a game as they finish it.

Just as Newcastle rallied in the last 15 minutes at Stoke, so they saved their best until last against Tottenham, something that must not happen for a third time when Portsmouth visit Gallowgate in seven days time.

“I said to them after the game, ‘I’m very pleased with the second half, but give me an explanation why there’s no urgency like that from minute one’,” said Shearer.

“We have our own ideas about that, but we’re going to keep them to ourselves.

“But we have to start games from the first minute like we finish them in the 90th.”