It is the Alan Pardew derby on Saturday afternoon as the man in question takes his Crystal Palace side to St James' Park - a venue that he called home for four years.

While Palace will be basking in the glory of having reached the final of the FA Cup for the first time since 1990, the pressure on hosting Newcastle United is massive. They remain in the bottom three and matches are quickly running out, meaning that it is now win or bust.

Newcastle

Ordinarily, draws against Manchester City and Liverpool would be considered decent results for Newcastle.

However, such is the seriousness of the situation that the Magpies find themselves in, only victories will do if they are to preserve their Premier League status for another campaign.

Those two draws, which followed a morale-boosting 3-0 win over Swansea City, have at least provided some light at the end of the tunnel for Rafael Benitez's men, who are now just one point from safety.

In fact, it could turn into real hope were they able to claim all three points from this encounter against the South Londoners, particularly when you consider that relegation rivals Sunderland and Norwich City have tough-looking away trips ahead of them.

Midfielder Jack Colback said: "It's a massive game for us, and one we've got to win really. We've given ourselves a chance now, but we've still got a lot of work to do to make sure we stay in this league."

One player that Benitez may turn to for this game is striker Papiss Cisse, given that the Senegalese frontman has scored in all three of his Premier League appearances against the Eagles.

Recent form (all competitions): DLLWDD

Palace

Pardew split opinion during his four-year stint on Tyneside, but what cannot be denied is that the club enjoyed some good times under his stewardship.

They finished fifth in the Premier League in 2012 and also reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League before it all turned sour.

In the manager's defence, he was not helped by the sale of key players - one of whom, Yohan Cabaye, he has since been reunited with at Selhurst Park.

Fast forward to the current day and all of a sudden Pardew has a happy playing squad at his disposal once again.

That has certainly not been the case for much of 2016 as Palace toiled on a winless run of 14 games that drew them into relegation trouble, when a few months earlier they had looked set to battle for the European places.

One defeat in their last five Premier League outings has eased those fears, though, while an FA Cup final date is certainly a welcome boost. They will head to the North-East eight points above the drop zone with three matches left to play, meaning that they can end any lingering doubts with a win.

Recent form (all competitions): DWDDLW

Team News

The only injury concern that Pardew has ahead of this game involves lively winger Wilfried Zaha.

The attacker has picked up a slight hamstring problem, which has rendered him 50/50 to feature.

Other than that, the returning Pardew has an almost fully fit squad to select from.

The situation is not as positive for Benitez, who has a number of absentees to contend with.

Goalkeepers Rob Elliot and Tim Krul remain sidelined, while the defensive duo of Daryl Janmaat and Fabricio Coloccini are also expected to play no part.

However, Steven Taylor and Yoan Gouffran may both come back into contention following muscular complaints.

Newcastle possible starting lineup:
Darlow; Anita, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett; Townsend, Tiote, Colback, Sissoko; Perez; Cisse

Palace possible starting lineup:
Hennessey; Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare; Puncheon, Cabaye, Jedinak, Sako; Bolasie; Wickham

Head To Head

The 5-1 thrashing that Newcastle suffered earlier in the season was their first defeat at the hands of Palace since March 1998.

On that occasion, Matt Jansen and Attilio Lombardo were on target for Palace in a 2-1 win.

Prior to that, the Magpies had won eight and drawn three of the previous 11 meetings between the two sides.

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We say: Newcastle 2-0 Palace

They are bound to say otherwise publicly, but the distraction of playing in the final of the FA Cup is sure to weigh heavy on the Palace players. For some of them, it will be their only chance to play in a match of such magnitude. Consequently, they may not be as committed to win certain tackles or cover the same amount of ground as usual, leaving Newcastle to benefit and consequently give their survival chances a big shot in the arm.