Pardew claims Cabaye support

The French midfielder fell under the spotlight at the weekend following a coming together with Brighton defender Adam El-Abd during the Magpies' shock FA Cup exit at the hands of the Seagulls.

Match referee Lee Probert took no action at the time, but Cabaye is facing retrospective punishment for allegedly kicking out at El-Abd.

Pardew has vowed to vigorously contest the charge, with Newcastle adamant that there was no intent on the part of their player.

El-Abd hardly helped their cause over the weekend when he said that Cabaye was fortunate to avoid a red card, but it would appear that he has since relaxed that stance.

Pardew claims the Egyptian has indicated that he would be willing to support Newcastle in their appeal, with the Magpies set to argue their case to the Football Association.

"I am absolutely livid about it, if I am honest, because firstly, when the incident happened, I didn't see anything wrong with it," said Pardew.

Reviewed

"I have reviewed that about seven or eight times and seriously, he is trying to stop the boy falling on him.

"He does make a gesture to push him away and in doing so, catches him just on the lip.

"If you find that that was a malicious attempt to do that then, my goodness, you have never played this game.

"I cannot believe that the referee, after the game, has gone back. Now whether this is pressure that he's under, I don't know.

"Yesterday, I had a call from the Brighton coaching team to suggest to me that their player wants to support our player, and I have never had that.

"We never instigated it, we never asked or put a phone call in to Brighton - in fact, I didn't see [Brighton manager] Gus [Poyet] after the game, and I must apologise to him for that, because I had to shoot off.

"We have sent our letter in, a strong letter, and we have also, after the contact from Brighton, asked the Brighton player if he would forward a letter to us, which he has kindly done, and that will go in as well."