The games cannot come quickly enough for Graham Dorrans, as he continues to play catch-up at Norwich City.

No sooner was the Scottish midfielder back fit after his pre-season injury, was he churning out three 90-minute efforts in the space of a week – not that it was planned that way.

And with another full game under his belt on Saturday, back-to-back road trips are on the horizon – at Newcastle tomorrow and Wolves come Saturday.

'I spoke to the gaffer before I came back and I don't think it was the plan for me to do 90 minutes against Cardiff and Wigan, but that was the way the games worked out. He had to make changes early.

'But I'm pleased with it. I want to play games and I want to be on the pitch for every minute possible. So it's been great.'

Dorrans is likely to once again start against the Magpies on Wednesday with Rafael Benitez's side desperate to keep pace with the Canaries.

Newcastle dropped two points against Aston Villa on Saturday but will be hoping to strike a blow over one of their promotion rivals.

Chancel Mbemba could return to the squad having missed the Villa game, which he was left out of due to tactical reasons according to Benitez.

'I thought for maybe these kind of games (Grant) Hanley could help in the final minutes but I did not want to make a change in the last minute because we were defending more or less and to put another player on, another defender, would be to invite them to continue attacking,' said the Spaniard, who could be without DeAndre Yedlin (ankle) and Vurnon Anita (suspended) tomorrow. 'I thought we could create something on the counter attack but that was not the case. To have Hanley on the bench instead of Mbemba was because he is strong.'