Alan Pardew: "You'd like to think with Yoan on one side, Ben Arfa on the other and Moussa Sissoko and (Papiss) Cisse through the middle - blimey, that's mouth-watering for us.
"I think there's a possibility Hatem will be back for the next home game.
"You put Cheick Tiote and Sissoko in there and we have got a really, really good side if we can get it out on the pitch.
"Unfortunately this year we haven't even come close to getting it out there.
"This is actually the closest I've come to putting my strongest side out.
"It does excite me, it really does. I really looked forward to the next game and I've not done that all year."