Alan Pardew: “I’m pleased because it gives me access to the dressing room, which I like to operate in and I like to think I have some influence in.
“I’m looking forward to being back in a changing room that I know well.
“In terms of my own standing in the game I need to make sure that with the experience I have got, I use it in the right manner.
“I’ll be focusing on that and making sure that the team’s winning mentality doesn’t drop off and that we are structurally alright for what is a difficult game.
“Southampton have had a fantastic season but we’re still above them and we want to stay there.
“It’s a battle that I think both sides are looking at and when you are around about each other in the table you want to prove that you are better.
“We have had a season where we have lost a big player halfway through and we have had nowhere near the funding that Southampton have got, so in some ways you could argue we have been battling against the tide here a little bit.”