Pardew hopeful key trio will be fit for Fulham
FITNESS HOPE ... Newcastle United's Demba Ba celebrates scoring the opening goal but limped off before full-time.
ALAN Pardew’s confident Demba Ba, Cheik Tiote and Davide Santon will all be fit to face Fulham.
The trio limped out of Newcastle United’s 3-0 win over Wigan Athletic at St James’s Park last night.
Their injuries were the only downside to a hugely-significant victory for Newcastle, which ended a run of four defeats.
Ba and Tiote both felt tightness in their hamstrings, while Davide Santon left the field with a groin problem.
However, Pardew’s revealed their withdrawals were “precautionary”, and they’re expected to be in the squad for the club’s visit to Craven Cottage on Monday.
“I think they’ll all be OK,” said Pardew, whose squad has been decimated by a series of injuries.
“Hamstring for Cheik, hamstring for Demba – a tightness – and Davide is a groin.
“I think the three we took off were kind of precautionary rather than tears and horrible scans tomorrow.
“Fingers crossed, we think they might all make Fulham.
“I said to the players we have to accept that this is going to be one of those years.
“We are going to get blow after blow. We have to accept it. We just move on to the next game.
“We might be missing a few more. Who cares? We can still win if we have the same attitude. We won with a lot of players missing.”
Before Pardew can think of the Fulham game, he has to take his team to Bordeaux for the club’s final group stage game on Thursday night.
And the side Pardew field at the Stade Chaban-Delmas will be unrecognisable to that which took on Wigan, with United having already qualified for the competition’s Round of 32.
“There will be a lot of changes for Bordeaux – trust me,” he told the Gazette.
“I want to let our fans know early that it won’t be the team that played against Wigan.
“We have to try to win at Fulham and get our first away win. I’ll be resting a few, for sure.”
Twitter: @milesstarforth
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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