RAFAEL BENITEZ has revealed Dwight Gayle is unlikely to figure over the Easter programme even though Newcastle United’s leading scorer does not have a serious hamstring problem.

Gayle suffered his latest problem during last weekend’s defeat at Sheffield Wednesday and he has been closely monitored since.

The 22-goal forward has been a big miss when he hasn’t played this season but is set to miss out on playing against Leeds United on Good Friday and then at Ipswich on Easter Monday. Benitez has also revealed defender Ciaran Clark is close to a return too after a knee injury sustained over a month ago.

The Newcastle boss, revealing no other injury concerns, said: “We have good news for our fans, it’s just Clark and Dwight not training with the team. Clark is very close. Dwight we have to see how he improves. Today he was running a bit.

“It’s good news we just had two players out of the sessions. Dwight is not very serious, Clark is very close. We don’t like to put a time on Dwight, it depends on how he progresses.”

And on Gayle’s injury, Benitez said: “Sometimes when you have had an injury, you have to change things, you are not in your best form and then things can happen.

“We have to be careful it is not a big issue. He is a player who is strong. Leeds and Ipswich look like being too soon.”

With five matches remaining, Newcastle sit ten points clear of third place and are on course to seal an automatic return to the Premier League at the first attempt.

After losing at Hillsborough there have been a few more nerves on Tyneside, although Benitez is not worrying. He is keen to just look at the shorter term.

The Spanish boss said: “It’s important to get promoted, we have played a lot of games very well and we are where we are because we did things right. We have to try to do things we were doing before, score goals and keep the balance right.

“The priority is to go up, if we are first then much better. We have to try to go up and win games. At this stage of the season it is difficult. We have to make sure everyone supports the team and we have tried our best.

“Hopefully the players have not taken the foot of the gas. Our meetings we have spoken a lot. We are always thinking about the next games.

“We know it is one game at a time, I like the competition between players. The good news is we have two players coming back from injuries. They can compete and now they have to keep being good.”