Newcastle's Dwight Gayle has lauded the inpressive and spirited victory over Manchester Unitedon Sunday.

Gayle set up Matt Ritchie to drive home the winner in the 65th minute as Rafa Benitez's team secured a much-needed win to afford breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone.

They are now up to 13th in the Premier League table, two points above the drop.

He told the Chronicle: "It would have been a tough fortnight if we hadn't have won. It's lifted the place.

"Going in to the next two weeks we'd have been in the relegation zone we'd be a bit upset.

"Now we have those three points we come out of it.

"At the same time we know we have a massive 11 games left and we know we need to pick up more points because it is so tight down there".