Intro:

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew discusses their Premier League curtain-raiser against reigning champions against Manchester City at St James' Park on Sunday (KO 14:00 BST).

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Alan Pardew, Newcastle United manager (Q: Are Manchester City favourites for the title?)
"I'm not sure that they're favourites. I think it's difficult to back it up when you've won it because I think that everybody is gunning for you and it's difficult for the players to raise it again and they're under much more competition this year. I think all the other contenders are much stronger, but they've still got more than enough quality to win it, there's no doubt about that."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Alan Pardew, Newcastle United manager (Q: Your opening game is a repeat of your opening fixture last season. Do you think you're in a better position this year?)

"The difference is that this year we are much more settled, we have a group that is working very very hard. I think that the disruption of that day affected us. We lost a player that day in the first half through, who knows, maybe the frustration that we were all sharing. So we don't carry that into this game. We have a new kind of self-belief in the quality that is on the training ground because players grow when they see more players. If you see more quality around you, you feel more confident and so I think that the likes of [Fabricio] Coloccini, Tim Krul, Vurnon Anita, Cheick Tiote, Davide Santon. The players who have been here now see that the group is bigger and stronger and therefore can arm them with more confidence. Having said that, last year at home we played perhaps as well as we can possibly play against Manchester City and still got beaten so they're that good. But I do feel that we'll give them a good game."