However Alan Pardew has urged the football authorities to take another look at the Christmas schedule to help out both clubs and the England team.
We played Liverpool on a Friday night, which obviously helped, but the Magpies played their fifth game in 19 days when they beat Manchester United on Wednesday night and face Blackburn in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, and Pardew believes that is perhaps one fixture too many.
Alan Pardew: "The thing that the FA and the Premier League must be wary of is that players playing with fatigue can get injured, and this is what happens.
"We get to these tournaments and the end of the year and we are missing key players, and that's why the schedule has to be looked at now and again.
"The Christmas schedule, probably for the Premier League, is a game too far and maybe moving one of those to later in January or February would be beneficial for everybody in my opinion."
Source: FOOTYMAD
