5:00pm Thursday 26th January 2012
By Andy Naylor
Albion boss Gus Poyet has warned his team will have to be on top form to dump Newcastle out of the FA Cup.
Alan Pardew’s side will be missing key players in Saturday night’s fourth round tie at The Amex but Poyet still expects them to be a tough nut to crack.
The Uruguayan is not reading too much into the Toon’s 5-2 thumping at Fulham last Saturday as he believes that was a one-off.
Poyet told The Argus: “It was the first time they have really had a bad game and even that wasn’t a bad game, just a bad second half.
“I’ve watched Newcastle this year probably five, six or seven times. I even remember the game in the (Carling) Cup on TV against Scunthorpe, so I have watched them a lot and they have been on TV a lot.
“We know everything about Newcastle. It’s not a team we don’t know about, so there is not too much to study apart from the team they are going to put out.
“Of course, they are missing one or two key players, especially (Demba) Ba who has been outstanding, but we will need to be at our best. They have been doing absolutely fantastically in the Premier League, so imagine how good we need to be to have a chance.”
Ba is on African Nations Cup duty for Senegal with Newcastle’s new £7.5 million forward Papiss Demba Cisse and so too is influential Ivory Coast midfielder Cheick Tiote.
Poyet added: “I like to see them every week but, of course, it is better if they are not there when you are playing against them. But even the players that are going to play have Premier League experience and they have been doing very well.”
Newcastle have just returned from a warm weather training and squad bonding break in Tenerife. Pardew whisked them away after the Fulham defeat and the former Southampton chief is demanding a 90-minute display to see the Seagulls off.
He said: “The FA Cup’s very important for this football club. We want to do well in it.
“It’s s going to be another tough away game but at least we can build on our first half performance and we know we mustn’t switch off like we did in the second half.”
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