IT IS hardly the ideal setting from which to pull away from the Premier League’s doldrums.

Newcastle United’s players are unsure from day to day whether one of their key men, prolific striker Demba Ba, will still be wearing black and white next month, and David Moyes admits that uncertainty could have a bearing on his side’s opponents today.

The Blues have experienced such unsettled moments themselves, specifically when question marks abounded over Joleon Lescott’s future in summer 2009, and the scenario took its toll on morale and results at Goodison at the start of that campaign.

Asked if Ba’s ongoing transfer dilemma could be on the minds of Newcastle’s players this evening, Moyes said: “I think it can be. When it starts to go wrong you start looking around. But Alan (Pardew) keeps picking him and he’s an important player to him. He is getting the goals and a threat.

“I don’t know if it will help us. I think Alan will play him if he is available. It would not be a great thing to have around the club. We had it when Lescott was leaving the club, a similar thing. It did not work in our favour.

“Maybe it would be different with a goalscorer who plays up front. Until they get the offer, he is going to be playing for Newcastle.”

It was not long ago that Alan Pardew insisted his club had moved beyond competing with Everton as they finished fifth last term following an impressive campaign.

Those comments about the Magpies being “in a different league” have returned to haunt him however, with his side currently in 15th place in the table – eight places below the Toffees.

Moyes though, has some sympathy for his counterpart in the home dug-out tonight.

“I think we are all operating in similar leagues and at times this league can be really punishing,” he says. “The Europa League can have an effect on it. It’s a tough league, you don’t know where the wins will come from.

“We have had a good start but who is to say we will have a good second half? I think it’s difficult. It’s a league where it is really punishing and you can be caught with your pants down very quickly but at the same time you can be cock of the north quite easily as well if you get four or five wins under your belt. You have to be level and quite balanced.

“Not too high when you’re the man and when it’s not going too well keep your head down and get on with it. There are three or four teams that could go either way.”

Newcastle have been shipping goals lately, but Moyes is unsure whether the Toon will revert to a more defensive approach this evening.

“I think that Alan will pick his team with what he has got,” he says. “He is a bit short of defenders, maybe his best form of defence is attack. That looks like what they have been trying to do. They went to Arsenal and United and scored goals. None of us like conceding goals, but you have to do what you can with what you have got.”

For his own part, Moyes remains positive overall despite Sunday’s galling defeat by Chelsea and the loss of Darron Gibson for a month.

“It’s a big loss because he is influential,” says Moyes of the Republic of Ireland international. “It limits me because Phil Neville is recovering from a knee op so makes me a little short at times. Marouane can drop back in. Heitinga can step in too if we need it. We’ve been short of right-backs too and that’s why I always look for players who can play a couple of positions so we have that versatility as that helps us get through when we are short.”

“Overall though you don’t come out of the Chelsea game feeling like a defeat because we deserved to get something out of it. It was a test of where we are. And we ran Chelsea really close. You would expect them to be really close to Manchester United and City come the end of the season.

“We ran them close on the day and if we had won there would not have been too many complaints. It was a real nip and tuck game, that did not quite go for us. It showed that we can compete against any of the teams on the day. Have we got that added bit of quality that some of these teams have got? Maybe not. But 11 versus 11 we have a chance.”