Alan Pardew: “Kevin’s performance against Wolves epitomised what he brings to the team.
“He leads by example and he only picked up the booking when he had to sacrifice himself for the team.
“He is a special player and sometimes we take him for granted a little bit, but what you cannot take for granted are the 12 goals he has scored this season.
“That is more than Andy Carroll has scored, and it is more than a lot of strikers have managed in the Premier League.
“It is a massive contribution and he scored the all-important first goal against Wolves which got us going.
“He was not well in the build-up to the game and probably should not have played, but he did and delivered when we needed him.”