ALAN PARDEW is confident he will not become the first Newcastle United manager in history to suffer four successive derby defeats to Sunderland, and claims his current side is much stronger than the ones that suffered at the hands of the Black Cats in the last two seasons.

The 151st Tyne-Wear derby sees Newcastle looking to avenge successive 3-0 defeats at St James’ Park, with a further loss on Wearside sandwiching the home defeats to pile further misery on those of a black-and-white persuasion.

It is almost three-and-a-half years since Newcastle last tasted victory over Sunderland, and last season’s 3-0 defeat saw the Magpies completely outclassed by opponents who appeared to grasp the intensity of the occasion much more readily than the players they were playing against.

Four members of the losing Newcastle line up are likely to start again tomorrow, but Pardew is anticipating a markedly different performance, with his players fully aware of the potential implications of another defeat to their fiercest rivals.

“I think they (the three defeats) are games where we made mistakes, although the intensity of the last performance by Sunderland was greater and I don’t think that will be the case on Sunday,” said Pardew, whose own derby record stands at one win from six games.

“This is a different team, even though there are a number of players who were involved in the fixture last season. The intensity we need from all 11 players, we didn’t have last time. But I don’t fear that this time around, and that gives us a better chance of winning the game.

“We also weren’t patient enough. They played a similar game to how they will play on Sunday, playing deep and looking to hurt us on the break. Their average number of passes before a goal was two, and that tells you everything about the way they capitalise on your errors.

“We’ve got to make sure we don’t make errors, but I would also say that in the last game, their intensity was better than ours. But we’ve got different personnel now, and a different mood, and I think we can match that. If we do, we’ll have a good chance of winning.”

Newcastle’s biggest concern heading into Sunday’s game is the mindset of goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, who has been passed fit to start despite injuring his shoulder in the closing stages of Wednesday’s 4-0 defeat at Tottenham.

Alnwick, who is the brother of former Sunderland goalkeeper, Ben, made a major error when he dropped Christian Eriksen’s corner in the first half of the League Cup quarter-final, enabling Nabil Bentaleb to open the scoring, but Pardew is confident the 21-year-old will be able to put the mistake to the back of his mind.

“The game is going to be pressurised for Jak because of the error that got punished, and I’ve seen many better goalies than Jak make a similar error and not get punished because there’s a defender there,” said the Magpies manager.

“Unfortunately for him, it ended up in the back of the net, so there’s pressure on him for that mistake, and the fact that he’s third choice here. I think he will deal with it – I think he’s a strong enough character to do that.

“I’ll talk to him before the game, but I always think it’s important to talk to players, particularly young players, so I would have been speaking to Jak whether he had made the mistake or not.”

Newcastle have a host of key players returning ahead of tomorrow’s game, with Daryl Janmaat available following suspension and Steven Taylor, Cheick Tiote and Sammy Ameobi all expected to be fit to start.

Taylor trained yesterday, with Tiote and Ameobi both due to take part in a full session today, and while Papiss Cisse continues to suffer from a cold, there is a still a chance the striker could have recovered by the weekend.

Taylor will replace Mike Williamson at the heart of the back four, although Pardew accepts he will have to ensure the academy product does not allow his emotions to get the better of him on what is sure to be a highly-charged afternoon.

“I will be looking at one or two who maybe get emotionally involved,” he said. “Probably the one who worries me the most is Steven Taylor. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he plays like that sometimes in this fixture.

“I’ve spoken to him about it. I think this time around he will be a lot calmer, and if he plays, he will be in better shape.”

The hope is that the entire derby atmosphere will be less toxic and more in keeping with the sense of solidarity between Newcastle and Sunderland supporters that emerged in the wake of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy that claimed the lives of John Alder and Liam Sweeney.

“Sunderland’s conduct has been impeccable really,” said Pardew. “For them to come across the bridge like that, it’s important that we meet them in the right way. I think we have, and all the signals this week have been tremendous. I’m so pleased about that.”

Newcastle have formally thanked Sunderland for their response to this summer’s events in the match programme, and hope visiting supporters will join in the traditional round of applause in John and Liam’s memory in the 17th minute of the game.