Alan Pardew: “The boys are in good shape.
“I was very happy with the work they put in last week, and with exception of one or two, most will play at Darlington on Friday night.
“The aim, of course, is to be ready for the Arsenal game (on August 13) – it’s a real blue ribbon encounter.
“Both of our first games are in that bracket.
“But we aren’t thinking of the second one (against Sunderland on August 20) yet, because the aim is to get off to a flying start against Arsenal.
“We certainly don’t want it to be as traumatic as the last time we played Arsenal, and the way that game started.”