Ben Arfa & Anzhi's Willian Out For Europa Game

Newcastle United midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa has been ruled out of tomorrow's game against Anzhi after struggling with a reoccurance of his hamstring problem, with manager Alan Pardew refusing to risk him. Ben Arfa picked up the strain in a clash with Willian in the first leg of the tie, as a result Willian is also unavailable for Anzhi

Pardew told the Press;

"The team news is pretty good and we are pretty much there apart from Hatem.

We can't take any risks. He had a slight strain and we are just checking it is nothing more than that and I think that will be the diagnosis so the alarm bells are not ringing and he is not in a bad place with his psychology so I don't think there is anything untoward in that.

He is not going to make the game and we are trying to finalise the injury before he goes into squad again and he will see a specialist today who is looking at the injury and we will probably have more news at my next press conference.

My reading with Hatem is that he is in a good place. He knows with the injury he sustained we have to be very careful of because more importance is his welfare going forward."