Pardew calls for calm over derby

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew will put his unbeaten record on the line as he heads into "one of the great derbies of the world" at Sunderland on Sunday.

Londoner Pardew freely admits he did not fully understand the magnitude of the battle for local supremacy until he arrived in the north-east, but the crash-course he has undergone since has left him in little doubt.

"No, if am honest, not with the intensity that I have found. It's one of the great derbies of the world, you have to say that," he said. "But when you are involved in this - and I have been to many, many games, including the Glasgow derby, and this game is as venomous as that."

Copyright (c) PA Sport 2012, All Rights Reserved.