Pardew plays down Newcastle chances

Alan Pardew believes Chelsea should be regarded as favourites when they play his Newcastle United side in the Premier League on Saturday.

It has been a tough week for the club following the death of former captain Gary Speed, but Pardew believes his players are keen to pay tribute with a big performance at St James’ Park.

The Blues have been struggling for form of late and sit one point behind Newcastle on the table, but Pardew said he was expecting nothing but the best from Andre Villas-Boas’ side.

“I think his side field icons of the Premier League, fantastic players and they’ll come here and put their reputation on the line,” Pardew said.

“They are having a tough spell but they’ve had them before Chelsea, and so have these players. They’ve been through these periods, where it was all going to be no good under a particular manager.”

“I think the new manager has got a job where he’s trying to put changes in and that’s always very difficult in an established group.”

“But I think they’ll get that right and I think he’ll get it right. I hope they don’t do it against us, because we want to win the game. But it’s still a very difficult game for us and we’re certainly not favourites.”

Pardew said Speed’s tragic death had affected everyone at the club.

“(Gary Speed) was obviously a great player here and captain of the club and it’s been a big loss to us this week,” Pardew said.

“The training ground has been heavy, particularly the first two days as we had a lot of staff and players who remember him, not just as a great player, but as a great person as well.”

“It has been a difficult week and even today, it’s been a bit low. But hopefully by the time the game comes around, we’ll be able to prepare ourselves mentally for the game.”

Newcastle’s local rival Sunderland became the first Premier League club this season to sack their manager when they dismissed Steve Bruce on Wednesday, but Pardew had sympathy for the former Manchester United defender.

“It’s never nice, being a member of the LMA (League Managers’ Association), seeing a fellow manager lose his job and I wouldn’t want that on anyone, even the biggest rival to us, and I’m very disappointed that he’s gone,” Pardew said.

“I hope that he’s looked on, for the record that he had and has had in his career, which is excellent.”

“I wish him the very, very best of luck and we’ll have to see who the new manager is and where they go from here.”