Ayoze up for it

AYOZE PEREZ says the Newcastle players who won promotion will prove they are good enough to stay in the Premier League.

Owner Mike Ashley has been slammed by Toon fans for failing to provide more funds for boss Rafa Benitez, with £10m Norwich winger Jacob Murphy the club’s most expensive summer buy.

But Spanish striker Perez (inset) insists Sunday’s 1-0 win at Swansea proves how determined the players already at the club are to rise to the challenge of mixing with the elite.

“This dressing room has a lot of ambition and we all have the desire to win games,” said Perez, who was part of the squad which was relegated two seasons ago. “Nobody feels good when you get relegated, but we worked very hard to get back into this league and, now we are here, we want to show everyone that we deserve to stay. “It is normal when the window is open that people don’t talk about the players that were here last season. “There are always rumours about who might or might not come in. “But we know our team and how strong we can be. We still have a lot of work to do, and we can improve a lot, but we know how good we are.”