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Opportunity Knocks, Says Boss
Written by Newcastle Utd
Alan Pardew is happy to have a queue of players knocking on his door, as he prepares for a busy festive period
By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor
Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew is more than happy to have a queue of players knocking on his door, as he prepares for a busy festive period.
Starting on Wednesday night at Swansea, the Magpies will play six fixtures during December with at least a further five to follow in January.
With United currently on a four-game winning run, Pardew has largely stuck by the same starting line-up, meaning some of last season's stars are waiting for their opportunity.
And the manager expects that to come this month, as he bids to keep his side fresh and performances at a high level.
"I've had a few knocks on my door from players who want to play," Pardew explained.
"Steven Taylor, Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse, Vurnon Anita, Jonas Gutierrez - they are all not playing at the moment and are desperate to play.
"We've got real competition for places and that bodes well. I wouldn't call them fringe players by any stretch of the imagination. I would class them as first team players who are out of the team at the moment.
"We are going to need to freshen it up and change it from game to game as we go along, because there's so many games."