Midfielder Dyer Ready To Take On Manchester City

The 24-year-old England star has missed the Magpies' last six matches but returned for the reserves against West Brom on Monday night and despite suffering a touch of cramp late into the game, Dyer came out of the game feeling fine and will be available for the visit of Kevin Keegan's side to St James' Park at the weekend. It will be his first game since the 1-0 win at Middlesbrough on 18 October.

He said: "I'm keen to get back as soon as possible now. I enjoyed getting a game for the reserves, and I felt good during the game. "Despite a bit of cramp near the end, I'm ready to be considered for the first team on Saturday."

Dyer added on the club's official website: "It has been frustrating being out, because we've had a couple of good results and a couple of bad ones when I've been injured.

"I must admit I'm not the best watcher of games, and it's even worse when we lose games like we did at Chelsea.

"I actually wanted to play in the last game against Chelsea, but the physios wanted to hold me back because they were anxious that I could do more damage if I wasn't 100% right.

"The Manchester City game is a big match for us. It would have been good to get a game a bit quicker after the defeat at Chelsea to get that out of our systems, and it has been a bit frustrating having to wait during the international break.

"Manchester City lost their last game as well, so they'll be looking to get back on track.

"It should be a good game, but after our bad start we've gradually picked up and we know that three points on Saturday will help lift us further up to where we want to be.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be involved on Saturday, though obviously that's down to the gaffer at the end of the day."