Ban risk too great with Tiote

Newcastle midfielder Cheik Tiote will miss Sunday’s trip to Chelsea because he risks being suspended for the start of next season.

But St James’ Park manager Alan Pardew has admitted he would not have left out Tiote if Chelsea had a stronger chance of winning the Premier League.

Tiote has picked up 14 bookings this season, and one more would see him suspended for three games, which would carry over into next season.

So Pardew has decided to drop him from the team for the rest of the season, admitting the summer signing’s disciplinary issues were a concern.

“He wants to play. He’s not happy and he will probably go home and sulk this afternoon,” Pardew said.

“No one is more disappointed than me. I love the boy and I want him to play, but I can’t afford to miss him for two games next year, I just can’t.”

“He misses this one and he will probably miss West Brom – that will be eight games (Tiote has missed) for me and I can’t afford that.”

“We have had Hatem (Ben Arfa) out all year and we lost Andy Carroll, so to have Cheik missing for eight games is a hell of a handicap to carry, and we have done it really, really well as a group. We have been terrific.”

“But at some point, you need your best players on the pitch and he is one of my best players.”

“It’s fairly obvious that we need to correct that next year, and that’s something I have talked to him about this week.”

“I will talk to him again before he goes away for the summer. He can’t take 14 bookings in a season.”

But Pardew admits he would have found it difficult to justify leaving Tiote out of his side if the title race was more open.

Chelsea lost 2-1 at Manchester United last weekend, meaning Sir Alex Ferguson’s side need just a point to seal the title.

And Pardew admits that it easier to leave out Tiote.

“It would have been very, very difficult – for example, the Cheik situation would have been a very, very difficult call for me if Chelsea had won at Manchester United, so that’s made a little bit easier by that result.”

“Of course, the league isn’t won yet and we will still put out a professional, strong team. We want to win at Chelsea.”

Newcastle will also have to do without captain Kevin Nolan, who has been ruled out of the last two games of the season after undergoing ankle surgery.