Newcastle haven't thrown the towel in, insists defender Paul Dummett ahead of final-day Chelsea clash

The Magpies suffered a fourth successive Premier League defeat on Wednesday night.

A second-half goal from Harry Kane gave Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win.

Newcastle created a series of a first-half chances at Wembley, but they couldn’t take advantage and Kane claimed all three points for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

Tenth-placed United wrap up their campaign with a home game against Chelsea on Sunday.

“I don’t think people can say we’ve thrown the towel in – our performance against Spurs showed that,” said Dummett.

“The squad we have simply doesn’t have that mentality.

“The games we’ve had have been tough – every game in the Premier League is a tough game – and the Spurs game proved that.

“We had good chances, we just couldn’t score from them.

“The Premier League is one of the best leagues in the world, and if you give people half a chance, they can score.”

The defeat followed losses to Watford, West Bromwich Albion and Everton.

Dummett was “proud” of the team’s performance on what was the club’s first visit to the rebuilt Wembley.

“I think we’re all disappointed because we’ve had four defeats in a row now,” said the defender.

“We had a lot of chances against Spurs – probably more clearcut chances than they had – but we didn’t put them away.

“I think we can be proud of our performance, we played really well, but things happen in games, and Harry Kane came up with a quality finish. That killed us a bit.

“That’s the thing with some of the big teams in this league.

“They have players with that extra bit of quality and they can change the game in a moment.

“They only need one chance, or sometimes only half a chance, and they’re so clinical that they score the goal and the game changes.

“We had better chances than they did, and could have had two penalties as well, so we’re disappointed not to get any goals and to have come away with no points.”

United secured their Premier League status with a 2-1 win over Arsenal last month, and Dummett doesn’t want the season to end with a fifth defeat.

“We’re disappointed with the run we’re on, but you have to look at the bigger picture,” said Dummett.

“If you’d have said at the start of the season that we’d be in 10th with one game left, we would have snapped people’s hands off for that.

“The fact we’ve lost four in a row has put a bit of a downer on things, and we don’t want to finish the season losing five in a row.

“We have to make sure we recover well and get ready for the game against Chelsea.

“We have to make sure that at the very least we get something so we don’t end the season with five straight defeats.”

Fifth-placed Chelsea need a win to have any chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

“Every game you go into, you want to win, and on Sunday, it’ll be exactly the same mentality,” said 26-year-old Dummett.

“We’ll go in there, for our last home game, and we’ll be wanting to put on a show.

“It’s going to be very difficult for them (Chelsea) to get in the Champions League now, so maybe that will help us as well.

“We always seem to do well against Chelsea, and we’ll be going into that game putting every bit of effort in, and taking the confidence that we can take from the Spurs game.

“We’ll be trying to get the three points.

“They might be thinking about the FA Cup final too, and hopefully that will be another positive for us.

“Hopefully, it helps us, and we’ll be putting all the effort in we can to win. Hopefully, we’ll get a top-half finish.”

Meanwhile, Matt Ritchie felt Newcastle showed “courage and desire” at Wembley.

“I thought, first half, we were really good – we stayed in the game, created chances and probably should’ve taken a couple, but it wasn’t to be,” said the winger.

“In the second half, we conceded, and it’s always going to be difficult, conceding away from home to Tottenham at Wembley.

“I thought we showed great courage and great desire to try and get back in the game, but it wasn’t quite to be.

“But in the first half, we had the better chances and were frustrated coming in at 0-0, really.”