Former Newcastle United captain Alan Shearer believes this week could be pivotal for the relegation battle, after his side were pegged back by Watford.

The record Premier League goalscorer felt that Saturday's draw at St James' Park was hugely important for the Hornets, as they were able to end a run of seven defeats in all competitions with Joao Pedro's late header.

Just three points separate Watford from bottom-placed Burnley, with Norwich and Newcastle in between, and the Geordie legend insisted that the battle at the bottom will go right to the wire this season.

"It was such an important result for Watford on Saturday because they’d lost seven on the spin prior to that, so to get something out of that game was hugely important," Shearer told the Watford Observer. "They didn’t deserve to lose the game. Neither team deserved to win, neither team showed enough quality to win it.

"I wouldn’t like to choose who will go down; I’d say it’s three from four. Norwich got a great result from a struggling Everton at the weekend, Burnley have got games in hand and I know they’ve been weakened by the sale of Chris Wood to Newcastle, but I’m sure that given time they’ll get someone in.

"It’s a massive week for Watford because they’re playing Norwich, which is another massive game and a big week for the teams down at the bottom."

Asked if Watford had enough in their team to avoid the drop this season, the Match of the Day pundit said that there was at least one player who had caught his eye so far.

However, looking at the men in charge of each of the four teams at the bottom, he believes each are more than capable of keeping their respective teams up.

"My answer is I hope Watford don't have enough, me being a Newcastle fan, I hope Newcastle are the team that gets out," he said. "But they’ve got Dennis up front, he’s unpredictable and a bit of quality. They also had three debutants on Saturday at Newcastle and they seemed to gel pretty quickly, so it’s going to go right to the wire I think.

"Claudio Ranieri’s certainly got the experience, you’re talking about a title-winning manager there. But then again if you look at Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche and Dean Smith, there’s an argument for each club. I couldn't call it."

One factor that could go along way to deciding this season's relegation scrap is Newcastle's newly-gained wealth following their Saudi-backed takeover last year.

Already, they have splashed out for Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood, while reports are constantly linking them to other highly-priced targets.

However, Shearer suggested they should be doing better, given how much they have already spent this month.

"I’m sure the other teams down there would’ve loved to have £40million to spend on two players," he said. "They’ve spend £40m, how much will they spend in the next two weeks? We don’t know, but I know the other teams would love £40m to spend and bring those types of players in."