Mehdi Abeid has insisted that he is ready to step up to the plate in order to anchor Newcastle United's midfield in the absence of Chieck Tiote.

The Ivory Coast international picked up a knee injury at the recent Africa Cup of Nations which could see him miss the remainder of the Premier League campaign.

However, Abeid, who has suffered with his own problems of late having broken his toe at the end of last year, is now hoping to make an impact under caretaker boss John Carver.

"I'm really glad to be back - it was a bad injury," he told The Shields Gazette. "I'm enjoying my time on the pitch. We have a good team and a lot of quality in the team - now we have to show it every week.

"It's good to have John as the head coach. There's a good relationship between him, the coaches and the players. Hopefully, we will have many, many more wins in the future."

Newcastle are currently sitting in 11th place in the league table ahead of their trip to face champions Manchester City at the weekend.