AYOZE PEREZ believes the right mentality on and off the pitch will help Newcastle United achieve their goals after taking a leading role with the club’s charity.

The Magpies have announced that Perez has been made an ambassador of the club’s Foundation after requesting to get involved following a girls development squad training session earlier this month.

The Spaniard has been a regular at other Foundation events and has taken on the new role at a time when he is also starting to prove he can handle life in the Championship too.

Perez hopes to be back in the starting line-up at Preston tomorrow after emerging from the bench on Tuesday to cap off a 6-0 victory over the Lilywhites in the EFL Cup; that was just days after his double against Ipswich in the league.

He has started to strike a greater understanding for one of the positions behind lone front-man Dwight Gayle – or Aleksandar Mitrovic when he plays – and thinks having the right attitude will be crucial in keeping Newcastle at the top of the Championship.

Perez said: “I am getting better. I am scoring goals which is important for me because the confidence grows a little more. It is always nice to score. We now have a game on Saturday, we have to be focused and see what happens.

“We need to have the right mentality whatever team we play with, three points is hard to earn against every team at this level. We have to be focused on every game. We are doing fine but we need to keep going.

“It is a lot different to the teams we played in the Premier League. You have to get the mentality right and work hard for the goals and the results to get the points to get back to the Premier League.”

Newcastle sit three points clear at the top of the Championship going into the trip to Deepdale, where Perez is certain that Simon Grayson’s side will be a completely different proposition to that which succumbed at St James’ Park on Tuesday.

The comfortable win has set up a quarter-final tie with Hull City in the EFL Cup, significantly raising hopes on Tyneside that Rafael Benitez could also lead Newcastle to a final for the first time at the new look Wembley. Attacking on two fronts is a far cry from last season when they suffered relegation from the top-flight.

Perez said: “We know that we have a big squad, with quality for this league and it was difficult when we were relegated. We are now focused on our goal of getting back to the Premier League as soon as possible and that’s what we are working on.

“We have momentum, everyone is in a good mood, and everyone wants to be fit, as soon as a player gets a chance they have to be ready.

“The 6-0 win will make it more difficult for us on Saturday I am sure, we talked about it straight after the game on Tuesday. We will have to respect Preston, focus on the game because it will be a lot different.

“There will be a lot of changes again on Saturday, I am sure. It will be really hard, we will have to be really focused. We need to forget about Tuesday and try to go there and get the points.”

Perez will be battling with Mohamed Diame for a starting spot at Deepdale after the Senegalese midfielder also score (twice) in midweek.

It has already been a positive week for the 23-year-old, though, and he is pleased to have taken on the ambassadorial role with the Foundation.

He said: “I’ve been to a few Foundation sessions in my time at Newcastle United and every time it has been something different. I realised there is so much going on in the community and I felt like I wanted to get more involved and see more of all the good things the Foundation is doing.

“People get involved with the Foundation because they are fans and in some way they need help – they support us so much that I want to help the Foundation support them.”