Alan Pardew: "If Ricardo Fuller had just run up to me and kicked me, I would have been angry, and Joey was, you saw that in his reaction last weekend.
"I think the referee realised what was going on, he knew what Stoke were trying to do and he handled it very well, as did Joey really.
"There was provocation, but he stayed calm and spoke to the referee. Sometimes he is a target, we have seen that before this season.
"It was crazy at Stoke at times, but Joey knows that they are trying to get him to lose his cool - and he has managed to keep control of his emotions.
"I'm sure other teams will try to do the same sort of thing between now and the end of the season. Joey is one of our key players and they want to stop him, but he knows what they are trying to do."
.