NEWCASTLE boss Alan Pardew says his players must go into every game believing they can win if they want to be a competitive force in the Premier League.

The Magpies travel to Aston Villa today with Pardew hoping his side can continue their unbeaten start to the new campaign.

Two wins and two draws mean Newcastle currently lie fourth in the Premier League table, although it is still early days.

Many regard Aston Villa and Newcastle as two of the teams that will fight it out to finish top of a ‘mini-league' behind the European places,

But Pardew says he doesn't read too much into that theory and insists his side should target taking points from everyone.

He said: "What is important is that every Premier League team we play against, we go in there with the belief we can win with the players we have got.

"The game-plan will be slightly different against Villa because different players give you different types of problems but we are going there thinking we can win.

"That is always the most important thing, regardless of what "division" they are in in the Premier League. I do not really think about them too much and where they are in the league."

Today's game will see former Newcastle wide man Charles N'Zogbia line up against the club that brought him to England.

It was no secret that Pardew - and the Newcastle board - wanted to bring the tricky Frenchman back to Tyneside in the summer, after a failed attempt in January.

In the end though, it was Villa who won the race to sign N'Zogbia from Wigan Athletic, and Pardew admits the £9.5m fee the Midlands club paid for the winger was just too much for the Magpies.

He said: "He was someone we were definitely interested in and I always felt he could be an asset for us but it was a question of the finance defeating us in the end."

Newcastle have confirmed new left-back Davide Santon will see a specialist next week after injuring his right knee in training on Thursday.

The precise timescale Pardew will be without the Italian is still unknown, but early indications suggest it could be at least a month.

Today's game has also come too early for Hatem Ben Arfa, but Pardew revealed the Frenchman is likely to feature in Tuesday night's Carling Cup tie at Nottingham Forest.

"He has impressed us in training but he is not at Premier League level just yet, although not too far away," Pardew said.

"On Tuesday, he will get a bit of a game but I am not tempted for Villa. I think we have enough fit players to deal with that game. And I think it is better he puts in three more days work before Forest."