Rafa welcomes Gayle's return

Gayle – who scored a hat-trick in United’s dramatic 4-3 win over the Canaries in September’s reverse fixture at St. James’ Park – has been missing because of a hamstring injury sustained in the 2-1 win at Brentford last month.

But Benitez says his number nine is now back to fitness in time for the midweek trip to East Anglia, and said that his inclusion in the squad will come as a “boost for everyone”.

“Everything is going well. We have Dwight Gayle in the squad, so that’s good news for everyone,” he said.

“We have a team of 25 players available now and just two injuries, so I’m quite happy with that. As I say a lot of times, it’s a problem for me, but it’s a good problem.

“It’s important to have the top scorer coming back. In one way it’s a boost for everyone, because he was doing really well and hopefully he can carry on scoring goals until the end of the season.”

Alex Neil’s Norwich currently lie seventh in the Championship table, just two points shy of the final play-off spot.

They had shone brightly early in the campaign, but suffered a mid-term slump that has seen them slide down the table.

But after five wins in their last seven league outings, the Canaries seem the be on the up again, and Benitez says his side must be wary of the threat posed by Neil’s men.

“It will be a very tough game, because in the first part of the season it was clear that it was a team that, for me, was a candidate to win the title. It’s a team that has experience, with the manager, players, quality and atmosphere.

“They were in a very good position, and I was thinking that they would be at the top of the table, fighting for first and second position. They are doing well again, and that means that they will be very dangerous.”

On the in-form Canaries – who were relegated from the Premier League along with the Magpies at the end of last season – Benitez added: “They’re a very good team, with experience in the division. They have players who have quality, and they know their jobs.

“When you get relegated, you can see that it’s not easy to understand what is going on (in the Championship) with the intensity, the physicality, the referees, everything.

“It takes some time, and they were going up and down, but they had the experience, the manager, the players and the quality, so I thought they would be at the top of the table from the beginning.

“They are doing well now, and hopefully after this game they will continue, but we will try to do our best to stop their run.”