DWIGHT GAYLE is hoping his recent return to Newcastle United’s starting line-up will extend to Saturday’s tea-time kick-off at Manchester United, and has revealed that would mean lining up against the side he supported as a child.

Gayle made only his third league start of the season as Newcastle suffered a 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth in their last game before the international break, and was unfortunate to have a first-half effort controversially ruled out for offside as the Magpies slipped into the bottom half of the table.

Rafael Benitez had been leaving last season’s leading goalscorer on the substitutes’ bench, having briefly considered selling him in the summer, but with Joselu struggling to find the back of net, Gayle found himself recalled a fortnight ago.

It remains to be seen whether he remains in the team this weekend, with Benitez expected to revert to playing with one up front at Old Trafford, but the 27-year-old is hoping his work on the training ground in the last two weeks will have strengthened his chances of being involved from the start.

“It’s frustrating (being out of the side), but obviously the team has been doing really well so I understand it,” said Gayle, who is yet to open his account for the season. “I just need to try to work harder, and prove to the gaffer that I can be in the starting XI.”

Gayle was born in Walthamstow, and was a trainee with Dagenham & Redbridge before signing his first professional contract with Peterborough United, but despite his southern roots, he grew up as a Manchester United fan.

Fellow east Londoner David Beckham was his idol, and even now, he admits to retaining something of a soft spot for Saturday’s opponents.

“David Beckham was from round my area so he was a bit of an idol for myself,” said Gayle, in an interview with Newcastle's official website. “I followed Man United growing up, and still have a little feeling for them I suppose. I still enjoy watching them.

“There’s been some great classics through the days (between Newcastle and Manchester United), and I’m sure there’ll be many more because it’s two massive clubs. The fans that support them are so passionate, so it’s always going to be a big, dramatic game.”

Newcastle slipped into the bottom half of the table for the first time since early September as they lost to Bournemouth, and face a huge test on Saturday as they take on a Manchester United side that boast a 100 per cent home record this season in all competitions.

As well as taking on Jose Mourinho’s side, Newcastle will also face Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City before the end of the year, but having worked so hard to secure a return to the Premier League last season, Gayle insists the Newcastle squad are relishing the chance to take on some of the biggest teams in world football.

“We didn’t have the best of results just before the international break, but we’ve had time to think about it and work on what perhaps we need to, and hopefully we’ll have a good game at the weekend,” he said.

“When you don’t have your best results or best performances, you want to get back out there as soon as you can to get it out of your system. All the boys are going to be raring to go at the weekend, and hopefully we’ll get a good result.

“Everyone knows how big a team (Manchester United) are, and playing at Old Trafford in front of 75,000 is going to be fantastic for the boys. We can’t get too over-run by it though, and we need to concentrate on the way we need to play and at the end of the day, we need to pick up points.

“The boys are still pretty happy in the training. We’re obviously frustrated we didn’t win (against Bournemouth), but we’ve moved on from that. We had a couple of losses in a row last season, but we bounced back from that quite well. Hopefully, we can do the same again at the weekend.”