Alan Pardew says his record as Newcastle boss against Sunderland does not mean a thing as he prepares to take his Crystal Palace side to the Stadium of Light.
Pardew had a torrid time against the Black Cats, who won four Tyne-Wear derby fixtures in a row while he was in charge at St James’ Park.
Pardew has since made the switch to Palace, who will continue their push for a top-10 finish when they take on the Black Cats this weekend, and he says they go into the game in great form.
“The stadium will be wary of us, the 11 players on the pitch,” Pardew said. “Irrespective of my reception, it’s about the 11 players on the pitch and Sunderland fans know that we’re in really good form.
“The group is on a high. We have a different type of game this Saturday and we need to make the adjustment quickly.”
Pardew has worked miracles since taking charge as in a short space of time they have gone from near relegation certainties to top-10 hopefuls.
“It is now about trying to keep our professionalism and keep on the process of what’s been winning us games,” Pardew added.
“We haven’t set an outcome target, in terms of points we’re going to get, but we have talked about the standards that we’ve set and that we need to maintain those.
“If we maintain them, then our position might surprise a few. We’re three points away from the top 10 so of course it is (a realistic target).”
Palace are 2.58 favourites, while Sunderland are priced at 2.86 and the draw 3.00.
Leave a comment
Link Dafabet