AYOZE PEREZ has told Rafael Benitez that he now feels far better equipped for the Championship promotion run-in regardless of where he is asked to play after a stop-start season.

The Magpies face Bristol City at St James’ Park tomorrow when Perez will hope to be back in the starting line-up.

Benitez opted to leave out the 23-year-old on Monday when Newcastle defeated Aston Villa, six days after he was on the scoresheet during the 2-2 draw at Norwich City.

That effectively summed up his season, having regularly forced his way into the side only to lose out again soon after.

Perez accepts he might have been able to hit greater form had he held his place for longer, having found it hard to keep Mohamed Diame out of the central attacking midfield role.

But the former Tenerife man wants Benitez to remember he can also play up front, particularly after leading scorer Dwight Gayle was ruled out for up to six matches with a recurrence of his hamstring injury.

Perez said: “I can do my job in No 9 and No 10. I feel comfortable in either position. I am ready. The Championship is quite different, tougher, harder for sure.

“I have adapted to the league game by game, the team has done well so that helps a lot. Physically it is strong but I do feel better now.”

Perez has still scored eight this season, three in the EFL Cup, despite falling behind Gayle, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Daryl Murphy for the lone striker role.

His goals have tended to come from playing behind a frontman, although he thinks he could have scored more.

Perez has started in 16 of his 30 appearances this season and feels the experience of playing in the second tier has made him a good bet to play more often in the final months of the promotion push.

He said: “You have less time to find your positions, your space, even when you find it you have players on top of you. As a player you have to deal with it. I always try to do my best, I feel like I am getting better with every game.

“It helps to play more games in a row maybe, I would get more confident. The team is winning then even better. I am working in trying to improve.”

Newcastle are a point clear at the top after defeating Aston Villa on Monday, before they follow tomorrow's game with three intriguing successive away fixtures against promotion rivals Brighton, Huddersfield and Reading.

Huddersfield, in third, are five points shy of Newcastle and the Terriers’ Christopher Schindler thinks the two teams occupying the automatic promotion spot are the ones to watch.

Schindler, whose side beat Reading on Tuesday, said: “I respect Newcastle and Brighton, of course. I have said that these two teams are obviously the best in the league as you saw when Brighton played here, you can win against every team.

“I think it is quite good for us because we can fly under the radar. I see the reports and on Sky and everywhere. It is almost always about those top two teams. It is good for us and we can work and just concentrate on football and do not have to worry about all of the other things.

“We have 14 games to go and anything can happen now. But, of course, in the position we have now, we want to keep it and maybe attack these two.

“It is hard because they win almost every game but we will try to perform as good as we can let us see what happens.”