Alan Pardew: “It will be an interesting point of the game to see how well we cope with their five-man midfield.
“That’s what they’ll play. We need to cope better than we did against Wolves with our two strikers on the pitch.
“We have done that in the past and we hope to do it again on Sunday.
“We just want to get four points from the two home games and, on the back of the run we’ve had at home, that is a success.
“I want to win the game.
“We don’t want one point from this – that’s for sure.
“It is an important game in terms of our league position as well, and not just playing Sunderland.
“It doesn’t matter what has gone on before – it is almost irrelevant really.
“What it will be about is the day itself and how we play.”