Pardew is the man

After Chelsea losing their first game of the season most talk will be about them, however one thing that might be slightly ignored by the Chelsea defeat is the praise of Newcastle and in particular manager Alan Pardew who deserve oh so much praise for the win and their recent form.

Alan Pardew has come under some great scrutiny in his time as manager of Newcastle but after a great win and a great run of form, he deserves some praise. Newcastle have picked up a tally of 19 points in their last eight games, losing one and drawing one along the way.

The great recent run sees them 3^rd in the Barclays Premier League form table level with Chelsea and Manchester United and only behind a bang in form Manchester City side.

Their home form is particularly impressive, St James’ Park is such a big stadium with such passionate fans that it can sometimes be harder for the home side when things aren’t going well, but with four wins and two draws in the last six games, Pardew must be thrilled with his sides form.

The run of form they’re on was much needed for Pardew as after a poor start to the season, fans were calling for Pardew’s head and owner Mike Ashley even “joked” in early September that if they lost to Stoke, which they did, he would be sacked, luckily for him he was not and the team have reaped the rewards since.

The Chelsea win now adds to two big wins already this season with Liverpool and Spurs already tasting defeat at the hands of Pardew’s side. The run has seen them propel from potential relegation candidates to European challengers, they currently sit 7^th in the league with 23 points, 3 behind 4^th placed Manchester United and 10 clear of the relegation zone and 18^th placed Hull City.

The unpredictable nature of Pardew’s Newcastle sides in recent seasons means it’s almost impossible to predict where they will end up when the season ends, under his guidance they have finished 12^th, 5^th, 16^th and last season 10^th.

Credit also must go to Pardew for his good work in the transfer market, last season saw the departure of key man Yohan Cabaye which basically ended their season in January but in the summer he acquired good players such as Ayoze Perez, Jack Colback and Daryl Janmaat who all look like shrewd signings.

Newcastle’s next outing is a trip to the Emirates to take on Arsenal, a fixture that marks the start of a busy period in which they play host to both Everton and North East rivals Sunderland, and includes a trip to Old Trafford. Even with such a tough line-up of fixtures Pardew and his men will be hoping they can motor on and stay in the top-half of the table and fight for European places.