Alan Pardew: "Obviously, I am hoping so, but they are two massive players. You take a huge figure out of one of the other teams and it's significant.
"If you took Rooney out of Manchester United, probably they wouldn't look the same for seven games, so you have to accept that.
"Having said that, we have got players who are champing at the bit.
"Hatem Ben Arfa wants a chance, Leon Best wants to show what he showed last year, Peter Lovenkrands will be eager to throw his hat in the ring, so we have still got great players in the club and we hope that we can keep the momentum and the form going.
"We have just approached one game at a time, but we have got to the halfway stage in seventh place and that's significant. It can only arm us with confidence to go forward.
"Ben Arfa will get an opportunity, and we will try to play to his strengths.
"I have said before many times, he has a special talent. We need to see more of it."
Source: FOOTYMAD
