da fezbet： After relegation last season Newcastle’s bid to bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking is going as well as they could have possibly hoped with Rafa Benitez’s men currently sitting atop the Championship with a three point lead over Brighton in second place.
da marjack bet： The fact that they are looking so pretty at the top of the table is due in no small part to the goals of Dwight Gayle. His eleven strikes have not only propelled the Magpies to the top of the table but it has also put ex-Crystal Palace to the summit of the scoring charts. After such an impressive start to the campaign his form has people asking whether or not he should be considered for international selection.
The obvious negative factor is that Gayle is playing in a level lower than that usually required to represent England, but there is no doubting the fact that the 26-year-old forward is in form right now and that is something that we are seemingly lacking in Gareth Southgate’s current squad.
The case for the defence (or is that attack in this instance!) will point to the fact that the forwards that were called up in the latest England squad are hardly trailblazing through the Premier League. Captain Wayne Rooney is struggling to get into the Manchester United side, as is his Liverpool counterpart Daniel Sturridge.
Add to the mix that Harry Kane had only come back from injury and is lacking the sharpness to feature and Leicester’s Jamie Vardy is struggling to repeat the feats of last season and all of a sudden looking at someone such as Gayle doesn’t seem like the worst idea in the world.
Gayle’s record so far this season is one goal every 94 minutes (eleven goals in 12 appearances), so if we use a small bit artistic license that is pretty much a goal every game on average – not a bad record at any level – but the caveat here is that obviously it’s easier to score against the likes of Barnsley and Brentford than it is Arsenal and Manchester United.
But there is no doubting that the 26 year old is a purple patch of form right now and if his goal scoring exploits continue to keep Newcastle at the top of the league and subsequently secure a return to the top flight, then the £10m that was forked out for him in the summer will look like an absolute bargain.
Others may say that Gayle has perhaps found his level with a move back down to England’s second tier. After joining Crystal Palace from Peterborough in 2013 for £6m he went on to score 15 Premier League goals in 64 matches during his three-year stint in south London.
Even at Championship level the most he ever scored for Peterborough was 13 and right now there is no danger of Gayle failing to surpass that feat. If he keeps up this current ratio of goals-to-minutes then we could be looking at somewhere near a 40-goal haul come the end of May.
But as we all know, form can disappear with a blink of an eye and with no international football on the horizon until March a lot can change. Not only could Gayle go through a barren spell, but there is also the, albeit diminishing, possibility of a new man at the England helm and one who wouldn’t even consider looking at players in the Championship.
If we are to make the assumption that Newcastle do get promoted thanks to the goals of Gayle then the real acid test will be whether that form can continue against the meanest defences in the country. If that proves to be the case then the forward, who at one point was plying his trade in the ninth tier of English football, could very well be representing his country one day.
I think everyone with a interest in England will be keeping a keen eye on what Gayle can do over these next few months and whether or not he can not only force but truly earn a route into the international set-up for the first time.
This article was submitted via our Write For Us feature. Think you can do better? Submit your own article by clicking here, and give yourself the chance of winning monthly cash prizes…
[ad_pod id=’playwire’ align=’center’]