4:55PM, Thu Sep 6, 2012

Alan Pardew: Newcastle United Aiming For Top Five Finish

By Nisha Joshi Location: Newcastle

Video: Alan Pardew says his team are on track for a top five finish

Alan Pardew says his Newcastle side are aiming for a top five finish this season.

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He added that retaining his best players has been a huge boost to the club.

He said: “It’s difficult keeping some stability in your squad when your players are being touted around.

“For us it was very important to keep that group together.

“We worked hard last summer to bring them here, they did terrifically well to finish fifth and we want to do that again, or even better."

The Newcastle United manager made the comments after showing his support for Aston Villa captain Stylian Petrov who was diagnosed with leukaemia in March.

Pardew joined Aston Villa masseueses Alex Butler and Andy Smith for part of the second leg of their Pedal for Petrov event.

The masseuses are cycling from Celtic Park to Villa Park to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

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Barclays Premier League

Pos	Team	P	Pts
14	Southampton	38	41
15	Aston Villa	38	41
16	Newcastle United	38	41
17	Sunderland	38	39
18	Wigan Athletic	38	36

Fixtures & Results

April

Europa League Group D - Thu 4
FT	Benfica	3-1	Newcastle
Barclays Premier League - Sun 7
FT	Newcastle	1-0	Fulham
Europa League Group D - Thu 11
FT	Newcastle	1-1	Benfica
Barclays Premier League - Sun 14
FT	Newcastle	0-3	Sunderland
Barclays Premier League - Sat 20
FT	West Brom	1-1	Newcastle
Barclays Premier League - Sat 27
FT	Newcastle	0-6	Liverpool

May

Barclays Premier League - Sat 4
FT	West Ham	0-0	Newcastle
Barclays Premier League - Sun 12
FT	QPR	1-2	Newcastle
Barclays Premier League - Sun 19
FT	Newcastle	0-1	Arsenal