The Swansea City captain has said that playing in front of 40,000 plus fans will be an enjoyable experience but also called on his team mates to show the ‘proper football fans’ of Newcastle that Swansea are a good team.

Speaking to the Evening Post, Monk said “This is one of those games where you have to go and enjoy it

“You can’t go into it fearing anything — we have to go there thinking ‘let’s show what we can do’.

“They are proper football fans up at Newcastle, and at 5pm on Saturday we want them to be thinking that they have just watched a good side in Swansea.

“That’s what I’ll be saying to the lads before the game — let’s show how good we are.

“It’s my favourite ground because the atmosphere was superb when I played there,” he added.

“Although we were well beaten, I actually did okay against two very good strikers.

“It’s one of those games you want to be involved in and, while we will be definite underdogs this weekend, I know we can handle it if we are at our best.

“You look at their squad and they have players worth millions and millions, but we have shown in the past that we can give these teams a game.

“We have proved people wrong in the past and we can do it again.

“I was very disappointing to miss the Cardiff game and Newcastle is another one that you really want to play in,” he said.

“We will see how I get on in the next couple of days and if I have to rest to avoid a longer lay-off, that’s what I’ll do.

“It’s a tough game, but hopefully we can keep our good run going.

“If not we will look to start another one straightaway, and then we will see where we are in the table after Christmas.”