Michael Owen is desperate to help a resurgent Newcastle United.

He is in contention for Sunday's trip to Fulham after overcoming a groin problem and said: "Hopefully, I can get back into it.

"It's always nice coming back into a team that has won a game or two."

Owen admits the departure of Kevin Keegan rocked the Toon and added: "You start the season full of optimism but a lot of our optimism was dashed quite early on this season.

"It would be nice to just have one season where the off-the-field distractions that seem to follow the club didn't happen."