GIVEN everything he has achieved in the game, it is staggering to think that Michael Owen has never scored 20 league goals in a season. Staggering, and after last weekend's strike at Blackburn, potentially short-lived.

With plenty to prove following his strife-filled season at Real Madrid, the England international is desperate to regain his status as his country's leading striker ahead of next summer's World Cup in Germany.

That means scoring goals, and plenty of them, to prove that the predatory instincts honed so successfully at Anfield have lost none of their potency.

Owen's career record stands at almost exactly a goal every other game - 207 successful strikes from 413 outings - and, as well as maintaining that standard during his spell at St James', he is keen to address a rather more unwelcome statistic.

His tally of 19 league goals in both 2001-02 and 2002-03 remains his personal record but, with former international team-mate Alan Shearer to help him out, the 25-year-old is confident of breaking the 20-goal barrier for the first time.

"My job is scoring goals and I will always be measured by that," said Owen, who will make his third appearance in a Newcastle shirt when Manchester City visit Tyneside this afternoon. "I won't be happy with myself if I don't score regularly.

"To be up there with the best you have to be scoring a goal every other game and I have managed to do that throughout my career, even at Real Madrid. I see no reason why I cannot carry on like that at Newcastle

"I don't set myself targets but I think it's fair to say that to be a top striker, you have to be getting 15 to 20 goals a season. That has to be my aim.

"I am sure that, with the players we have at Newcastle, that is possible. I will be doing all I can to make sure I get those goals."

Single-mindedness has always been one of a striker's most valuable weapons but, with the Magpies desperately trying to muscle their way back into the top six, Owen is sensible enough to acknowledge that personal success would mean little should his team-mates fail to fire.

The £16m man is still settling into his new life on Tyneside but has already seen enough to convince him of the potential in the current Newcastle squad.

"The aim this season has to be to get Newcastle back in Europe where they belong," said Owen. "I am absolutely certain we have the players to do it.

"They are a great bunch of lads and I have enjoyed every minute since coming here. Obviously, when you are winning games it helps, and last weekend's victory was terrific for us.

"It gave everyone a massive lift in the dressing room. Footballers are the same the world over.

"When you are winning everyone is happy, but when you are not winning matches there is a tendency for people to get a bit down. Hopefully, we have now turned the corner."

Owen joined team-mate Alan Shearer in some welcome light relief earlier this week when he teed up in a celebrity-studded pro-am to open the Seve Trophy at The Wynyard Club.

But, while Shearer finished second alongside British skipper Colin Montgomerie, Owen's fourball, which included Seve Ballesteros, was in the bottom half of the standings.

"I just hope my shooting (against Manchester City) is better than my golf," joked the Newcastle number ten.

"Things were so bad on Wednesday that I hit one shot into someone's back garden."

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