PARDEW PRAISES DEMBA BA

Whilst everybody else is complaining at how difficult it is to compete with the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City, Alan Pardew has a smile on his face - his team are above all other challengers for the title, and remain the only unbeaten team after 10 matches in the Premier League!

Arsenal were tonked 8-2 before turning it around with a 5-3 victory over Chelsea recently, Liverpool have struggled to score goals, and Tottenham wobbled viciously at the ery start of the season, all of which has allowed Newcastle to stake their claim for the third spot in the table.

Its even more remarkable because the Toon fans had been protesting ahead of the season starting at the lack of high profile transfers. The club lost Andy Carroll for £35m in January, and have yet to replace him, and also saw Joey barton and Kevin Nolan - two of the lynchpins of the side last season - move on to pastures new.

The only signings they made were unknown French players and free transfers, but it looks as if this tactic is paying dividends for managed Alan Pardew - one of his free signings have set the goals table alight, and scored a hatrick last night.

"We really fancied Demba for a while but people have to remember we were paying £9m for him with his wages and everything else," he said.

"The medical people at this club are fantastic and they didn't think his knee was a risk we could take at that time. Taking him on a free is a different option and he has certainly done well at West Ham and at Newcastle."