Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has admitted that his side must bring an end to their poor run of form soon.

The Magpies lost for the fifth league game in a row on Saturday when Swansea City came from behind to win 2-1 at St James' Park.

Pardew has said that he is expecting an improvement from his team in their next two games against Arsenal and Cardiff City.

"We've got a lot of hard work to do before the Arsenal game," the Sunderland Echo quotes Pardew as saying.

"We definitely need to give a credible performance and hopefully get some points. Certainly, against Cardiff, we've got to win, whatever route it takes.

"Now we need to make sure we regroup this week. That was a body blow, really."

Newcastle currently sit ninth in the table.