Premier League: Alan Pardew hopes Papiss Cisse can continue fine Newcastle form

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew hopes Papiss Cisse can continue his fine run of form in Saturday’s Premier League game against Leicester at St James’ Park.

The 29-year-old Senegal international returned from a fractured kneecap as a substitute on September 20 with the Magpies trailing 2-0 to Hull and his quickfire double earned a 2-2 draw.

He repeated the feat at Swansea last time out in another 2-2 draw and Pardew now hopes he can fire Newcastle to their first league win of the season at the eighth attempt to avoid the club's worst ever start to a Premier League campaign.

The 53-year-old said: "When goalscorers get their tails up, they have an unbelievable knack of finding a goal.

"The first goal at Swansea, I don't think there is anyone else on our staff who could have scored that goal, and that is what I mean by finding a technique that gets you a goal.

"He does that on the training ground on a more regular basis when he is in form."

Cisse's return to both fitness and form could hardly have been more timely with the Magpies having won just five of the 26 league games they have played in 2014, the last of them against relegated Cardiff in May.

Pardew said: "He is injury-free for the first time for a long time because at the back end of last year, he was carrying knocks and injuries, and fatigue a little bit.

"He is more enthused this year than I have seen him for a long time, and that's being reflected in his goals."