MICHAEL Owen last night dismissed suggestions that he was still struggling for match fitness, and urged Sam Allardyce to keep him in the starting line-up for tomorrow's Premier League home game with Wigan.

Owen made his first domestic start of the season in Wednesday's Carling Cup win over Barnsley, weighing in with his eighth goal for the Magpies as he produced by far his sharpest performance since suffering cruciate ligament damage in last summer's World Cup finals.

The 27-year-old appeared to have regained much of his sharpness following an international run-out for England and two substitute appearances in the opening month of the Premier League campaign.

Allardyce has hinted that Owen is likely to be back on the substitutes' bench tomorrow following a pre-season programme that was hampered by a thigh injury sustained in last month's friendly at Hartlepool.

But after insisting that his fitness is as good as it has ever been, the striker has underlined his desire to make his first Premier League start of the season.

"The manager put me on the bench for a couple of games, and maybe he thought I was lacking a bit of match fitness having had my thigh injury," said Owen, who will join up with the England squad at the start of next week ahead of crucial European Championships qualifiers with Israel and Russia.

"But since then I have trained fine, felt fine and played the majority of the game against Barnsley. I was still feeling strong towards the end, so we'll see what the manager does (tomorrow). Like everyone, I want to play every game."

Owen's injury problems since moving to Newcastle have been well-documented, with a serious knee problem following hot on the heels of a metatarsal injury that sidelined him for half a season.

Last month's thigh strain exacerbated his woes, but Owen feels the effects of a rather minor injury have been exaggerated out of all proportion.

"I've actually been fit for a long time now," he explained. "I've been fit since I made my debut - or at least it felt like my debut - at Reading at the end of last season.

"I've worked as hard as anyone and I haven't missed many training sessions or games. I've had a thigh injury which lasted about two-and-a-half-weeks, but that's really been it in terms of problems in the last few months.

"My fitness results were as good as anyone's in pre-season and I hardly stopped training throughout the summer. So I haven't felt 'not match fit' for quite a while now."

Nevertheless, his chances have been restricted as Allardyce has preferred an attacking trio comprised of Mark Viduka, James Milner and Obafemi Martins.

The Magpies manager is a longstanding advocate of a 4-3-3 formation, and fitting Owen, who lacks the physical skills needed to play as the central striker, into such a rigid system is likely to be one of Allardycefs biggest problems this season.

The England international struggled to slot into a threeman attack during his time at Real Madrid, and has rarely featured in a similar system during his time in England. But he clearly feels that his goalscoring talents are sufficiently well honed to adapt.

Wednesdayfs strike, which saw Owen race onto Shola Ameobifs through ball before calmly slipping the ball under goalkeeper Heinz Muller, would have been a weight off the mind of most strikers. To Owen, however, it was merely par for the course.

gI canft really say it was a feeling of relief,h he said. gThe feeling was one of normal joy really - like every other goal I have scored.

gI wasnft really going into the game thinking, eOh no, I havenft scored for Newcastle for 20 monthsf. Those statistics might make a good headline, but for 19 of those months I was injured. gI think everyone knows that, when Ifm fit and playing, I will score goals. Scoring goals is the last of my worries.h

Goalscoring worries are also low on Allardycefs priority list at the moment, with signing defenders to keep a clean sheet at the other end currently a much more pressing concern.

Abdoulaye Faye should be confirmed as a Newcastle player today after passing a medical yesterday, and Allardyce is also hoping to complete the capture of Marseille skipper Habib Beye before the transfer window closes at midnight.

Stuart Pearce has brought Steven Taylor back into his England Under-21 squad and also called up South Africa-born Andrew Surman for the Euro 2009 qualifiers starting next week.

Pearce has appointed Taylor as his captain but the Newcastle defender missed last weekfs friendly draw against Romania as he was in the senior squad.

Taylor will lead the under-21s on September 7 and 11, unless injuries mean he is required by Steve McClaren.

The under-21s then play another four qualifiers before the end of November.