Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has insisted that avoiding relegation is still the club's primary target this season despite their encouraging start to the campaign.

Rafael Benitez's side currently sit 11th in the Premier League table having won promotion as Championship winners last season, although their form has dipped in recent weeks with only one win in their last six league games.

The Magpies will be underdogs to improve that record when they face high-flying Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday, but Shelvey believes that his side are capable of pulling off an upset.

"Anyone can beat anyone, so I think there's enough for us to survive in this league. That's our main goal, and then to build a platform and go on from there. If someone said to me last year that by the third international break you'd be sitting in 11th place, the majority of people would have bitten their hand off for it," he told the club's official website.

"No one knew how we were going to get on to start with - a lot of people were probably tipping us to go straight back down - but I feel there is enough in the changing room, and we've shown it on the pitch, to keep us up. Rafa knows this league, he knows how to set teams up and how to get results and I'm sure that we'll go there and give a good account of ourselves, and hopefully come away with something.

"We could go and do something against Man United - that's how weird this league is. As a footballer you go to grounds like that - and I include St James' Park in that - to play against the best players in the world, it's every kids dream."

Shelvey is yet to register a goal or an assist in his eight Premier League appearances for Newcastle this season.