ALAN Pardew has urged his high-flying Newcastle United side to grasp the “fantastic opportunity” their form has afforded them – and clinch a triumphant return to Europe.

United missed a chance to close the gap on fourth-placed Chelsea on Saturday by losing at Fulham.

However, they remain well-placed to have a tilt at the Europa League places – provided they can regain their momentum when they visit struggling Blackburn next week.

Pardew has been at pains not to overreact to the Craven Cottage reverse, but he is monitoring his side for any drop in the standards they have set for themselves so far.

A mid-season break in Tenerife, which ends today, was intended as a chance to recharge batteries ahead of a run-in which Pardew feels could be “terrific”.

“The hunger is something I am trying to drive. Some of the younger players have not been this close before to where we are going,” he told BBC Newcastle’s Total Sport programme.

”Shola Ameobi is one of the exceptions but it is important to get the message across that we have a fantastic opportunity here and we cannot let it go. I can sense in the squad they see an opportunity. We are just going to try and play the best football we can to try and take it.”

Pardew sees the mid-winter months as key to United’s assault on the European places.

Pinpointing Newcastle’s relative lack of experience in comparison to the likes of Liverpool, he believes staying focused and in form during the next few weeks will be a major challenge.

So far United have been able to cope with the pressure, brushing aside setbacks to stay on course for an impressive top-ten finish.

However, the second half at Fulham caused alarm in the Newcastle camp, because Pardew identified a lack of “hunger” in his team.

He added: “That disappointed me a bit in terms of the hunger, in terms of getting it back. We discussed that.”

Luckily their faltering efforts did not cause too many problems, with both Liverpool and Stoke suffering surprising defeats.

Pardew knows they will not get too many more let-offs as the business end of the season approaches.

He went on: “I said all along if we can get to seven or eight games to go and be sixth or seventh or whatever, we have a great opportunity.

“We still have some distance to get there so we have this period of the season which is very, very important.

“When you get near the end the finishing line is in sight and everyone focuses.

“The better teams get better in that period – it is very rare Manchester United will lose in that period, or someone else going for the title.

“When you are in good form that period gets easier, it is the period where there is not a finishing line in sight (that is difficult). You just have to keep in there.

“The better teams have the experience to do that. If we had had more experience at Fulham we would have won, no doubt about that.

“We kind of just slipped up there and that us the sort of thing we have to be on our guard against.” United return to the North East this afternoon and will be back to the grindstone ahead of a tricky-looking trip to Brighton in the FA Cup fourth round.

Having identified the Seagulls pose a similar threat to Fulham, Pardew wants to see an improvement in the organisation of his back four.

He said: “It was a team structure problem at Fulham and that is something we are good at as a rule.

“We have to be prepared at Brighton, who play exactly the same way as Fulham. They could change halfway through as well and we make the adjustments.”