YOHAN Cabaye admits Newcastle's form in recent years hasn't echoed the size of the club. But the French midfielder believes the current squad can bring success back to Tyneside.

The Magpies have been the surprise package of the Premier League campaign so far, despite being tipped by many to struggle after the departures of key figures such as Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton.

Questions were asked when players with little or no experience of English football replaced them, but so far Alan Pardew's new generation have surpassed all expectation and are sitting fourth.

Cabaye, who gave up the prospect of Champions League football at Lille to join Newcastle in the summer, understands the club has massively under-achieved in recent times but admits the current squad is eager to bring the kind of success his fellow countryman David Ginola had back to the club.

He said: "It's true the results for Newcastle in the last few years weren't great. The results have not corresponded to the size of the club.

"Hopefully we can make the size of the club correspond to our achievement in the coming years. That is our aim. Then we can think about taking the next step into Europe.

"I remember when David Ginola was playing here. The club was doing extremely well and that is a wonderful memory to try and emulate.

"The Premier League is the best Championship in Europe, if not the world. I wanted to leave Lille for several seasons and Newcastle gave me a fantastic opportunity to play in the Premier League.

"The fact Lille won the cup and championship meant I could finish on a high. There are five to six teams in England that are competing for Champions League football and we've got to believe that we can get up there. That's the point of playing football.

"If we keep winning matches it's possible. We want to take this club back to Europe as soon as possible."

Cabaye admits he didn't expect to be lying fourth in the Premier League after seven games but the 25-year-old believes the squad will prove they deserve to be there if they get a result against Tottenham tomorrow.

He said: "Maybe we didn't expect to be so high, but the team has a lot of quality and a lot of excellent players. To be fourth is really good, it's important we haven't lost a game.

"The tone was set in the first match when we didn't concede any goals against Arsenal.

"That was a really positive result. Then we won the derby and that set us up very well. The key is to win at home.

"The match on Sunday is going to be a really big test and we've got a good chance to prove why we are fourth."