Dan Gosling has insisted that Newcastle United are focused on finishing the Premier League season strongly.

Newcastle have lost three games in a row without scoring a goal, allowing Southampton to replace them in eighth place, but Gosling claims that the squad are desperate to pick up victories in the closing stages of the campaign.

"We as a club, and we as professional footballers, want to finish as high as we can. At the minute that is realistically chasing eighth place, so that is what we will try to do," the 24-year-old told the club's official website.

"Am I still confident we can do it? Yes, of course.

"There's only a couple of points between us and Southampton, we have quality players here and we all want to have a strong finish to the season."

Alan Pardew's side take on Stoke City this Saturday.