Dwight Gayle joined Newcastle United this summer from Premier League side Crystal Palace for an undisclosed fee.

Rafa Benitez made it no secret that he was after a goalscorer - someone who could hit the back of the net on a regular basis and fire Newcastle back to the Premier League following a disappointing relegation.

So far Dwight Gayle looks to have stepped up to that responsibility. He has scored seven league goals so far this season and tends to be Benitez's preferred forward, ahead of high-profile trio Ayoze Perez, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Daryl Murphy.

It always appeared that the 25-year-old was unfairly cast aside at Crystal Palace. It's hard to imagine that this was due to his attitude because on the pitch he is a workhorse and seems to be quite grounded. He was previously praised as a listener and a learner by Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson.

He might not have been given a chance at Crystal Palace but he still scored goals when given the opportunity. This is something he has done consistently for a few years now, prompting a rapid rise from non-league football to where he is today. 57 goals in one season for Stansted, 29 goals in 42 games for Bishop's Stortford, 7 in 18 for Dagenham and Redbridge and 13 in 29 for Peterborough saw Crystal Palace gamble on the natural finisher.

Gayle has actually ended each season as his club's top scorer since the 2009/10 season when he was at non-league Stansted.

That might be hard to believe given his lack of opportunity at Crystal Palace but he still pipped the likes of Frazier Campbell and Connor Wickham to top scorer in all competitions for the Eagles in all three seasons at the club.

Dwight Gayle currently sits joint second in the goalscoring charts alongside Brentford's Scott Hogan.

Plenty of Premier League clubs are reportedly chasing Hogan so he might not be with the Bees by the end of January. They are behind Tammy Abraham of Bristol City in the race for top scorer at the moment.

Whilst he has burst onto the scene remarkably well, he has never played professional football before this season so he might be found out, nullified or individually targeted by opposition defenders who will make it their sole focus to stop him from scoring. With a busy schedule in England's youth system too, he might end up getting burn out.

Abraham averages a goal every 107 minutes whilst Gayle is scoring at a rate of one goal every 110 minutes so it's almost impossible to separate the two at the minute.

Over the course of the season, though, my money would be on Gayle to stay consistent. Other than these two competitors, it is tough to imagine anyone who could keep up with Gayle's prolific scoring rate.

Another benefit Gayle has over Abraham and Hogan is the service he gets.

Newcastle probably have the best midfield in the league and, as a result, Gayle will be presented with plenty of opportunities to score his goals.

The likes of Christian Atsu, Rolando Aarons, Matt Ritchie, Yoan Gouffran and Ayoze Perez will carve out lots of opportunities for Gayle from the wide areas whilst Jonjo Shelvey, Vurnon Anita, Jack Colback, Mo Diame and more will get the ball to him from the central regions. Gayle is a tireless workhorse who will chase balls into the channel and use his pace to get into good areas.

The service will be there for him and there's no doubt he will duly bury a large number of the chances that come his way.

Dwight Gayle is a consistently prolific striker renowned for his goalscoring ability. He has experience of the Premier League and is scoring goals for fun in the second tier.

He is a man in form who knows where the net is and he is finally getting the regular game time that his talent deserves so I back him to end the season ahead of Tammy Abraham, Scott Hogan and everyone else in the race to become the Championship's top goalscorer.