The two sides last faced each other on Tyneside on January 4 when Sir Alex Ferguson's men left on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline having been comprehensively beaten.
Alan Pardew: "Van Persie's confidence levels set him apart at the moment. He is one of those players who actually believes he's the best, and that's dangerous.
"Usually even when things are not going well and they are missing chances, they still think they are going to score.
"Demba is a little bit like that - he has that kind of attitude. There will be great strikers on view on Sunday, for sure.
"There will be so much ability on the pitch, you can't help but think there are going to be some great moments in the game - hopefully more for us than them.
"Both me and Alex will be sweating defensively. Our two centre-halves tomorrow have played almost every game - (James) Perch and (Mike) Williamson - and their two centre-halves could well be (Michael) Carrick and (Rio) Ferdinand, so it's not ideal.
"You want to have fresh players for games like this, but they are not and that favours the strikers for Sunday.
"Yohan and Cheick looked like the pair they were when they were at their best last season.
"It's taken us a while to get there. They have had injuries and illness - they haven't actually played together much, and we have still picked up points.
"We have got our side almost back together, but not quite. But hopefully if we can get through Sunday with a positive result and everybody fit, I think we will have two or three back for the Sunderland game, and obviously that's a big game too."