Pardew: Arsenal a bridge too far for Newcastle

Newcastle travelled to the Emirates Stadium on a run of just one defeat from 10 matches in all competitions and buoyed by the confidence of an excellent 2-1 victory over league leaders Chelsea the previous weekend.

However, Arsene Wenger's men proved too big of a challenge as both Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla scored twice in a comfortable 4-1 home victory.

Manager Pardew retains belief that his side can compete with any opponents, but conceded that Arsenal were too good on the day.

"I still felt even at 3-1 the game was in the balance, I just felt that the demons might return from Anderlecht," he said. 

"But we couldn't get ourselves in that position and perhaps didn't deserve to.

"We didn't give up today even though we weren't playing at our best.

"Overall our team has really had great belief. They believe they can get something out of any game but today it was a bridge too far for us."

Pardew also confirmed that Jak Alnwick will continue to deputise in goal until January with first-choice Tim Krul and understudy Rob Elliot sidelined through injury.

"We go on with Jak and we've got a big week ahead of us," he added. "Hopefully he can handle it until such a time when we get can goalies in."