91Èȱ¬

Goalkeeper Tim Krul believes Newcastle United have the confidence to cope with their punishing early match schedule.

Having beaten Tottenham in their opening game, United travel to Athens to play Atronitos on Thursday evening before facing Chelsea away on Saturday.

Krul told 91Èȱ¬ Newcastle: "It's an important week, you can't just let it go because then you're running behind.

"It's tough, but I think we have so much confidence in this team now we don't fear anybody."

Last season Newcastle were unbeaten in the first 11 games of the season, a start which Krul believes gave the club the momentum and confidence to go on to finish fifth in the Premier League.

"It was so important, it gives us such confidence - winning against Spurs and Demba [Ba] on the scoresheet, what more do you want?" said the Dutchman.

Ba's goal, a fine curling effort in the first-half, was his first for Newcastle since last February, having scored 17 goals up to that time. Thereafter the Senegal international was outshone by compatriot Papiss Cisse, who scored 13 goals in 15 games after being signed during the January transfer window.

"If you look at our strikers, they can just change games - it's the same story as last season and hopefully I'll keep saying that," said Krul.

The goalkeeper also singled out fellow Dutchman Vurnon Anita, who made his debut coming on as a second-half substitute against Spurs after being signed from Ajax.

"He'll need to get used to running a lot more than he did at Ajax but he came off the pitch and said it was incredible and that he was already feeling he had made the right choice," said Krul.