DWIGHT GAYLE is fit to face Norwich City on Tuesday night if Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez wants to start him.

The 20-goal striker has not played since January 14 when he hobbled away from Brentford with a hamstring problem.

He has made good progress and has come through full training unscathed recently and is fit to face the Canaries, who he scored a hat-trick against earlier this season.

Benitez, who also has Daryl Murphy and Aleksandar Mitrovic to call on up front, will now weigh up whether to thrust his £10m summer signing straight into the starting line-up.

The Newcastle boss said: “Gayle is back in the squad. It’s good news for everyone. It’s important to have the top scorer coming back.

“It is a boost for everyone as he was doing really well before the injury and hopefully he can continue to score for us until the end of the season.”

Norwich have climbed to within two points of the play-off zone again after an unbeaten five-game run. Alex Neil, the Norwich boss, had seen his team’s season hit the buffers after Newcastle’s dramatic 4-3 win in September. Benitez said: “It will be a very tough game. At the beginning of the season they were a candidate to win the title.

“It is a team with experience, the players, the quality, they have everything. I was thinking they will be fighting for a top two position so, again, they will be very dangerous.

“I thought Norwich would be at the top from the beginning. They are doing well now and hopefully after this game they can continue.”