The Magpies head into Wednesday night's home clash with West Brom without a win in their last five games, but still sitting in seventh place in the table after an impressive start to the campaign. Injuries, suspensions and a fixture list which pitched them into battle with title-chasing Manchester City and Manchester United as well as fellow aristocrats Chelsea on consecutive weekends have taken their toll. And there was disappointment on Tyneside on Saturday when Swansea left with a point after surviving a first-half deluge to claim a 0-0 draw. However, while Pardew knows his squad cannot hope to compete with English football's major powers financially, he is confident they can cling to their coat-tails. He said: "Our best team can compete with any team in this Premier League. "Whether we have got a strong enough squad to keep us consistently in the top seven all year, we will have to wait and see. "But certainly, we still have a nice margin over the rest. "Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea are way, way above us in terms of budgets and everything else, so we are doing absolutely fabulously, make no mistake about that." It is, of course, just Newcastle's second season back in the top flight following their ignominious relegation at the end of the 2008-09 season, and the financial restructuring which has seen huge wage packets and massive transfer fees consigned to the history books means the club is now operating along very different lines. However, while safety remains the first and overwhelming priority, Pardew, whose side have amassed 27 points from their first 16 games, continues to look upwards rather than over his shoulder. He said: "It's dangerous to look behind, so we will look up and go from there." The busy Christmas period will fully test Pardew's squad as he prepares to enter the transfer market once again with a centre-half high on his wish-list as a result of Steven Taylor's season-ending Achilles injury. He was on Monday linked with FC Twente's Douglas Franco Teixeira, but it was the Brazilian-born defender's former club-mate Cheick Tiote whose future remained a major topic of debate amid reports that Manchester United - one of several clubs credited with an interest - had him watched at the weekend. Asked how confident he is of holding on to the midfielder, Pardew said: "I am confident in as much as it is going to take a hell of a lot of money to take him out, and I don't know how many Premier League clubs could do that. "We will have to wait and see, won't we?" Pardew is hoping to have Ivory Coast international Tiote, who made his first appearance for almost two months against Swansea following a knee problem, and Senegal counterpart Demba Ba available until the middle of next month before they head off on African Nations Cup duty. Meanwhile, Newcastle once again declined to comment on reports that Sochaux striker Modibo Maiga's proposed move has collapsed because of a knee problem.
