The Magpies go to Liverpool on Friday night with in-form striker Demba Ba having taken his tally for the season to an impressive 14 in the 2-0 Boxing Day victory at Bolton. However, he will be heading off on international duty with Senegal at the African Nations Cup next month, and with manager Alan Pardew having revealed the Magpies are unlikely to sign a new frontman in January following the collapse of Modibo Maiga's proposed move from Sochaux, there will be a major gap to be plugged. While much of that responsibility is likely to fall on the likes of Leon Best, Shola Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands, Frenchman Ben Arfa marked his return to fitness with the opener at the Reebok Stadium, and Williamson is confident he has the ability to play a role too. He said: "He's got a lot of ability. It's been a frustrating time for him personally, but he's worked really hard to get back and hopefully that can pay off now. "You need the whole team to chip in - you can't just rely on one player, but we know we have got goals in the squad." Ben Arfa's strike was just his second for the club and came more than 15 months after his first, although the vast majority of the intervening period was spent on the sidelines recovering from an horrific double leg fracture. He has been back fit for several weeks now, but Pardew has used him sparingly to date as he waits for him to return to full match fitness. However, with Ba soon to depart, the manager knows he needs men to pick up the slack, just as they had to earlier in the year after Andy Carroll's £35million January sale to Liverpool. Asked if his understudies can take up the mantle, Pardew said: "They are going to have to. It's a bit like last year when we lost Andy Carroll. "This year, we are losing Demba Ba, but we have got the added advantage of having Hatem around which we didn't have last year, so we are slightly better off than we were last year - and remember, it's not for half a season, it's for just six weeks or whatever it is." The win at Bolton was Newcastle's first in seven Barclays Premier League games and just what they needed ahead of the trip to Anfield and the equally testing visit of Manchester United to Tyneside next Wednesday evening. Williamson returned from his own injury problems to help bolster a defence which had wobbled after a fine start to the campaign. He said: "Everyone's going to go through a tough period in the season, it doesn't matter who you are."
