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Gouffran And Pals Feeling At Home
Written by Newcastle Utd
Yoan Gouffran feels that he and his fellow January arrivals are now "settled in" on Tyneside - and it's showing on the pitch
By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor
Yoan Gouffran believes that he and his fellow January arrivals have now truly found their feet in the Barclays Premier League - as highlighted by last weekend's win over Chelsea.
The French forward was one of five players brought in by Alan Pardew at the turn of the year, with Moussa Sissoko, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Mathieu Debuchy and Massadio Haidara also arriving on Tyneside.
And after some up and down displays early on while they adjusted to a new style of football in arguably the best league in the world, their quality is now shining through.
Haidara missed the Blues victory through injury but Sissoko, Yanga-Mbiwa and Debuchy were superb while Gouffran scored the all-important opening goal.
And, speaking to nufcTV, the former Bordeaux man explained: "We've been here quite a long time now and I think we're feeling well settled in. Things are going from strength to strength and I think that's showing itself on the pitch in our performances as well.
"Although it's quite early in the season, we're doing a lot better than we were last season.
"We're making an effort off the pitch - we're all talking English a lot - and we're doing really well."
Newcastle face Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and, having lost to Sunderland and then exiting the Capital One Cup after extra time against Manchester City, Gouffran admitted that beating Chelsea has given United a spring in their step ahead of the trip to North London.
"It's given us a really good confidence boost," said the 27-year-old, who registered his first Magpies goal at White Hart Lane last season.
"It's really important to have got that win for the confidence so we move forward on the basis of that.
"We've moved out of the negative mindset we had from losing a couple of matches and we're going to go there with fresh legs and do as well as we possibly can."
Click here to watch the full nufcTV interview with Yoan Gouffran