No favours for old friends: Given

Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given will not be holding out the hand of friendship when he runs out to face Everton tomorrow.

David Moyes’ squad will be packed with familiar faces as they attempt to maintain their stunning start to the season, but for Given, the niceties will be reserved until after the final whistle.

The Republic of Ireland international was at the other end of the pitch when Duncan Ferguson was forming a short-lived but highly destructive partnership with Alan Shearer when his injuries allowed, and he needs no reminding of the Scot’s prowess in front of goal.

Ferguson came off the bench to clinch a 1-0 win over Fulham last weekend and keep the Toffees in third place in the Barclays Premiership. The game illustrated both his side’s defensive resilience and the threat they pose in attack, despite the sale of former Newcastle target Wayne Rooney to Manchester United.

“Big Dunc seems to keep coming off the bench and nearly always seems to get a goal when he comes on,” said Given.

“We’re aware of how much of a handful he is. He’s a quality player and he’s really hard to defend against because he’s so powerful and strong in the air.

“Then there’s Steve Watson, Kevin Kilbane and Lee Carsley from the Irish set-up, and Alessandro Pistone as well, who was at the club.

“There are a few faces we’ll all know – but we’ll not be doing them any favours, hopefully. We want to get back on track as well because we did have a bad week with three losses at home two weeks ago, so it’s important we bounce back and get the three points.

“But they have been unbelievable. They just avoided relegation last year but they are in third and they deserve to be in third because they have had some great results. Their confidence is sky high. They have had six or seven victories away from home, which is brilliant for them, and it’s going to be a tough game for us.”

Newcastle go into the game having restored some confidence with wins over Crystal Palace in the League last weekend and, in superb style, French side Sochaux in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night.

However, they have lost their last three on the trot on home turf with Fulham, Chelsea and Manchester United all winning at St James’ Park in the space of eight days earlier this month, and that is something they intend to put right tomorrow.

Given, who played his 300th game for the club in France, admitted confidence had been affected before the trip to Palace although he insisted that those results did not tell the whole story.

“It was a little bit low before Saturday because we’d had a couple of weeks when the results didn’t go for us, although I didn’t think we played all that badly,” he said.

“We just didn’t get the points, and the Chelsea game as well, I thought over the 90 minutes, we were the better team but they did well in extra-time.

“We weren’t playing that badly, but once you’re not getting victories, and you’re not picking up points, sometimes the confidence is affected a little bit, so it was really important for a victory on Saturday – and I thought we deserved it as well.

“I thought we played some good stuff and we deserved to get the three points.”

Given saw the ball fly past him on seven occasions during that three-game spell, but he remains one of the club’s most consistent performers and Magpies legend Willie McFaul believes he is as good a keeper as they have ever had.

“Newcastle have let a few goals in this season, but you can’t pin all the blame on the goalkeeper. There has been a change of manager and he has tried out different players at the back and things like that affect the goalkeeper in the team.

“But once things get settled down, I’m sure there will be an improvement. Shay has been very consistent over the years, he’s made that number one shirt his own for club and country, and rightfully so.

“I rate him up there with the best of them.”