Pardew expects tight affair

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew hopes there is no repeat of last season’s eight-goal thriller against Arsenal when the clubs meet on Saturday.

Pardew saw his players produce the greatest comeback in Premier League history as they overcame a four-goal half-time deficit to earn a draw thanks to a stunning long-range volley from Cheik Tiote, but this weekend he is hoping for calmer fare as the new Premier League season opens.

That result dealt a major blow to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s title hopes as his team threw away victory in a second-half collapse after his side moved into what looked like an unassailable position thanks to goals from Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou and two from Robin van Persie.

Abou Diaby’s second-half dismissal for retaliation on Joey Barton proved to be the catalyst for Newcastle’s revival and the home side hit back with two Barton penalties, a Leon Best strike and then through Tiote to leave Arsenal on their knees.

“The crowd will come expecting goals but both myself and Mr Wenger will be expecting a much tighter game hopefully and must more disciplined game both from his team and my team,” Pardew said.

“But ultimately it is about the excitement and some of the stuff we produced in terms of the team meant our form improved towards the back end of the season and we want to continue that because our home record will be important this time around.”

With former captain Kevin Nolan having left Newcastle for West Ham, the Toon Army will get their first glimpse of several new faces including French midfielder Yohan Cabaye, and Pardew is convinced that he will go down well with supporters.

“He was a top target of mine,” he said.

“We targeted him from Christmas onwards. We watched him a lot and I went to see him personally myself. He has different styles to the type of midfield player we have got.”

“He has a lovely feel for the ball and is a clever passer who can put a pass between centre-halves and full-backs and release strikers and wide players. He is a creative influence the Newcastle public will enjoy.”

“It is important that we replaced Kevin with the right type of player and I think Cabaye will give us a different look to Kevin and hopefully he will be as successful as Kevin because he was terrific for us.”

After the Arsenal game, Newcastle will head to arch-rivals Sunderland for the Tyne-Wear derby and Pardew knows he cannot afford to lose the local bragging rights.

“It will be a very important game for ourselves and for Sunderland so you have got to come out of that game with some credibility and we will be looking to do that,” Pardew said.

“For us obviously we are going to have a very different look to the side so I would like to settle the team down before a big encounter like that. But the fixture list is such in the Premiership that it is tough.”