GARY SPEED, Newcastle United's Mr Durable, was last night tipped to keep on going and set an unbreakable Premiership appearance record.

Speed, 34, has played in 386 Premier League games - 32 more than his nearest challenger, Alan Shearer.

The Wales international appears to have been galvanised by the arrival at St James' Park of a posse of young midfielders in the last two years.

Jermaine Jenas, Hugo Viana, Darren Ambrose and Lee Bowyer have all been unable to cut short Speed's Newcastle career.

With Speed set to line up for Newcastle today when they host Aston Villa, manager Sir Bobby Robson reckons he will go down in Premiership folklore.

Robson said: "Gary Speed's appearance record will take some catching. I think Michael Owen might have a chance at some stage, but what he's done is phenomenal.

"There's no sign at the moment of his first-team career coming to an end. I left him and Alan Shearer out away to Breda because there was no reason to risk them getting injured.

"When Rob Lee was 34 he started to pick up injuries. Not playing in Breda worked for us, and if we'd beaten West Brom it would have worked for us again.

"Gary's two trips to Belgrade in August took a lot out of him. That's why I've wanted to freshen him up in recent weeks.

"I know the players know Gary is making it difficult for them to get into the side.

"Hugo Viana has asked me about getting into the team but he said, 'I understand what a good player Gary Speed is.'

"I only wanted to play Gary against West Brom in an emergency - I wanted him fresh for the Villa game - but in the end he played for 75 minutes.

"Gary was good against Portsmouth last Saturday and he was very good against Fulham the week before.

"He gave a fighting performance at Middlesbrough, but playing twice a week is taxing for him.

"We have a full squad here and we have to use it to give one or two players a rest at the right time because they benefit from it.

"Gary Speed has been an important player ever since I came here. He's a totally committed, courageous, durable, hard-working, box-to-box player.

"He's brave in the air and he's good at set-plays at both ends, and he showed with a great header against West Brom how dangerous he can be."

Robson has told his players to put their "devastation" at going out of the Carling Cup behind them today and concentrate on boosting their Premiership bid.

Having taken just three points from their first six League games, Newcastle have been catapulted up the table on the back of a four-match winning run.

Even at this stage of the season, the Magpies appear to be battling for the fourth and final qualifying place for next season's Champions League.

But Robson said: "We've got to think about ourselves and not the other clubs.

"We must look at our situation, what we've got in our squad and who we're playing.

"Three teams have broken away, but we've got to concentrate on making our way up the table.

"I can't foretell what Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are going to do: can they keep their cushion, or will they have a blip?

"We were devastated to lose to West Brom, but now we have to get back to winning games."

Newcastle have an excellent Premiership record against Villa, having lost just two of the 20 League fixtures between the sides since 1993.

Villa have a meagre return of eight goals from their first ten league matches this season, which is undermining a series of solid defensive performances.

Record signing Juan Pablo Angel, who has four of those, said: ''We have had three clean sheets and we are trying to field a team which is hard to beat.

''Now we need to improve in the attacking areas, start scoring some goals and picking up some points away from home."

* Newcastle striker Calvin Zola has had his loan spell at Oldham Athletic extended until the end of the season.

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