Gael Bigirimana: "I am here to put in a shift for the team and to be creative in the team. I am just learning as a player.
"No matter how old you are, you are always learning, you can never stop learning.
"I am going to look at my game and look at where I can improve more to be always 100% and giving what the fans want to come and see.
"That's what I want to do, I hope to make the fans happy with my performance."
"In pre-season, he [Pardew] said: 'If you do well, if you catch my eye, it doesn't matter how old you are, I will play you. As long as you are going to give me your best and perform and you look like you are going to help me, I don't mind putting you in at any stage'.
"I was not expecting to come on, I was expecting maybe to come on for five, 10 minutes. But God had a little surprise again for me, so I am just so happy.
"It was a tough call, actually. I did think whether to make it because we weren't playing well at that time and we looked a bit disjointed, and I thought it was a tough call for an 18-year-old.
"But we really missed Cheick - I don't think they would have got a draw here if we had Cheick in the team. He would have got amongst a few of them.
"Bigi is that type and he did get in amongst them and he started moving it quicker, and we looked a lot better for it, and fair play to him.
"I think our fans have taken to him already and we certainly have. We love him already in our camp."