Premier League 
/ Michael Lintorn / 07 February 2012 / 2 Comments 
Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse both scored in the win against Aston Villa
"Odds of [2.7] on a top-six finish look increasingly attractive, while the ever ambitious Alan Pardew is keen to fight for fourth [15.0]."
Michael Lintorn reflects on a glorious start for the Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse pairing and other duos who worked together up front for club and country...
After first seeing their exciting new strike force in action during Senegal's awful African Nations Cup campaign, Newcastle fans had any worries that the Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse partnership wouldn't live up to its billing drastically eased against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Given an unexpected 76-minute window to impress together following an early injury to Leon Best, things went better than either could have imagined, both netting in a 2-1 victory.
Ba's goal was his 16th in 18 starts and leaves him second in the scorer standings despite his recent absence, and [13.5] to overtake Robin van Persie before the season is over.
Cisse firing on his debut is arguably even more encouraging for Magpies supporters though, affording the £10 million man an instant and spectacular impact, whereas it took Ba six matches to break his duck, leading some to misguidedly write him off.
And on a weekend where Chelsea and Liverpool were held by top-three opposition, the result is that Newcastle are fifth, a point off the Champions League pace and three clear of Champions League chasing Liverpool.
The idea of European qualification no longer appears fanciful and fears of a complete collapse after their dip in form before Christmas have been soothed, so odds of [2.7] on a top-six finish look increasingly attractive, while the ever ambitious Alan Pardew is keen to fight for fourth at [15.0].
Ba and Cisse are likely to prove pivotal to any success that they enjoy over the next few months, but their unusual situation of linking up in attack both domestically and internationally got this writer thinking of other examples in the Premier League.
It was harder work than anticipated, and required a bit of counting attacking midfielder/winger-forward pairings, however here are six for starters:
Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp - Arsenal and Netherlands
Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka - Leeds and Australia
Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry - Arsenal and France
John Utaka and Nwankwo Kanu - Portsmouth and Nigeria
Elano, Jo and Robinho - Manchester City and Brazil
Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba - Chelsea and Ivory Coast
Feel free to chip in with some of your own in the box below...
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