ALAN PARDEW last night hailed Remy Cabella’s second-half display against Burnley and claimed the Frenchman was finally starting to live up to his billing in a Newcastle United shirt.

Cabella, who was an £8m summer signing from Montpellier, spent the first half on the substitutes’ bench as the Magpies were completely outplayed by a Burnley side that claimed a half-time advantage courtesy of George Boyd’s 34th-minute shot.

However, the midfielder replaced Ayoze Perez at the interval and was integral to a second-half fight-back that saw Newcastle claim a deserved point.

Papiss Cisse’s 48th-minute strike levelled things on the scoresheet, but it was Cabella’s creativity and trickery that hauled Newcastle back into the game and ensured they would not suffer their second defeat in the space of four days.

“The biggest difference was Cabella,” said Pardew. “He gave us technical ability and produced a really great second half for us. That’s really good news because for him to come alive a little bit for us is great.

“He’s been a slow burner, but tonight he changed the game. Can he start against Chelsea (on Saturday)? Yes, of course.”

Cabella has struggled to find his feet since moving to Newcastle in the summer, making just two Premier League starts since the end of September, but his most recent displays have hinted at a gradual coming to terms with life in the Premier League.

The 24-year-old has become more assertive in his play, and while he is yet to display the sparkling talent that made Pardew so keen to sign him as a replacement for Yohan Cabaye, last night’s 45-minute performance was arguably his best in a Newcastle shirt.

That it came in an away game where his side was firmly under the cosh prior to his introduction was even more encouraging in terms of his potential future impact.

“They’re the sort of question marks you throw against eight-stone Frenchmen,” said Pardew. “He played like one of the front row of a rugby team in the second half – he was terrific.

“He took the game by the scruff of the neck with his technical ability, and that’s what he has to do. He’s not going to be a dominant force physically in this Premier League, so he has to be a player who’s going to get on the ball, run at people and create, and he did that.”

Newcastle’s first-half performance was the polar opposite of their second-half display, with Danny Ings causing a host of problems and the Magpies midfield barely able to string two passes together as a succession of moves broke down.

Steven Taylor’s appearance in place of Mike Williamson helped steady the ship at the back, but Pardew felt it was his players’ willingness to take more risks that made the biggest difference in the second half.

“It was hard to watch in the first half,” he said. “Burnley closed the game down, but you have to take more risks than we did because there’s a reward if you take risks.

“I wouldn’t have said that if we lost, but I brought some extra technical play on and we took some real risks in the second half and got our rewards for it. Sometimes, in the Premier League you have to take risks.

“I wasn’t angry (at half-time), I just felt we had lost our verve to get on the ball and put people under pressure. For example, the goalie wasn’t playing to the back four. Once we did that, the first real risky bit of play was when Rob (Elliot) rolled the ball out to Cheick (Tiote) and suddenly the game opened up.

“It stayed like that in the second half and it was a much better game. I was pleased to see our fans had stayed for the second half because the last 20 minutes of the first half was very tough to watch.”