Pardew up for the cup

Newcastle heads for a potentially difficult fourth-round tie at Brighton having come from behind to see off Premier League rival Blackburn in the previous round.

Pardew does so with memories of near-misses as a player with Crystal Palace and as the manager of West Ham still fresh.

Guthrie said: "The manager really likes the competition, he has always put strong teams out.

"He took West Ham to the final and nearly won it, so he does like that competition."

Pardew himself admits the FA Cup gives him a real buzz and a different challenge to the one presented weekly by the Premier League.

He said: "It does. The passion that comes around a cup game - they are those one-off occasions when anything can happen.

"There are no points to play for, it is just purely being in the hat for the next game, and that's the most important thing for us in this particular fixture, to be in the hat for the next round."

Brighton, of course, won its place in the fourth round with a penalty shoot-out victory over non-league Wrexham, a game which left Guthrie with mixed feelings.

He said: "I don't know which one is better looking at Wrexham's pitch, but Brighton are very good at home.

"I have seen them a couple of times and they are a good passing side."

The game will give Guthrie another chance to strengthen his claims on a place in Pardew's starting line-up having already proved a more than able deputy for Cheick Tiote while he is away at the African Nations Cup.

His stunning opening goal in the 5-2 Premier League defeat at Fulham was one of the positives on what proved to be a topsy-turvy afternoon, and the 24-year-old is relishing his latest opportunity to show what he can do.

He said: "It's much easier coming into a team that has been winning and got confidence, rather than coming into a team that's on a bad run. That does help.

"My aim is to pick up where I left off and give the manager a problem when he has got everyone fit and available.

"It's hard to put a finger on anything, but personally I think something has just clicked this year.

"I am more mature now, I have had a daughter in the last year - maybe that helped, I'm not sure.

"I have always been technically good, but I think I know how to play the game now a bit more, I know football a bit more and I am a bit more wise."