Sadly, they got one courtesy of Antonio Valencia’s reckless tackle on Anita.
But it was Pardew's strange comment prior to the Man Utd game that had many Toon fans wondering what was going on in the manager's brain: "Tiote is suspended, and it could be a good thing, because we have capable players to replace him".
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Alan Pardew: “I was upset with that tackle.
“I thought it got lost a little bit (in the excitement of the finish). I don’t think Valencia has tried to hurt the player, he just timed it badly.
“It is too early to say how long he will be out for, but it’s a bang on the ankle and we’ll have to wait and see whether he’ll make Arsenal.
“He would be a loss to us because I thought he was terrific.
“You could argue our whole midfield from last year was out – we had no Gutiérrez, Tioté, (Yohan) Cabaye or (Hatem) Ben Arfa. Our midfield did well though, brilliantly well.”
Gutiérrez will have an injection in his knee today and is set to miss “two or three games.”