Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has hailed the club's fans as the best in the world - even though most of the 2,000 who saw them lose at Arsenal last night spent the evening calling for his head.

The 3-0 loss was the Magpies' sixth straight Premier League defeat and supporters continued their campaign to see the 52-year-old former Saints boss removed from his position.

Goals from Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil and Oliver Giroud were enough to push Arsenal to the brink of Champions League qualification while, for Newcastle, it appears they are ambling towards a top-half finish.

That does not seem to be enough for the Newcastle faithful, who turned on their manager with chants of "we want Pardew out" and "six in a row" - with two unsavoury banners also unfurled as the evening progressed.

Despite all of that Pardew, who was back on the touchline following a seven-game ban for headbutting Hull's David Meyler, was full of praise for the supporters.

"We've got the best fans in the world," he declared.

"We should have performed better in this run and we have to finish in the top 10.

"I thought we could have got really harmed tonight at 2-0 but I think on a football basis we've come out with our dignity still intact.

"It's very, very important our stadium gives us the same opportunity on Saturday [against Cardiff] they did at Swansea when it was a good atmosphere for us to play under.

"I really hope on Saturday we give them something they deserve because they don't deserve the recent run we've offered up to them. They're frustrated.

"We had 2,000 fans here tonight, they made the long, long trip and although we were playing a good team they expect us to win. They've seen us lose again and they're not happy and I respect that."