Hatem Ben Arfa Unlikely To Start Again This Season

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has talked about the concerns he has for Hatem Ben Arfa and his hamstring complaint. The midfielder has spent much of the season nursing injury and has just been declared fit, however Pardew is keen not to over work him and has indicated that he will be coming off the bench in the final games of the season as an impact player.

Pardew said;

“I still need to protect hatem’s hamstring and I can’t afford to lose him in the run-in.

If we get him into a place where he is fatigued then there’s more chance of him injuring the hamstring once again.

I’ll use Hatem to the maximum without getting him into that fatigued area, Basically I have to shepherd him back the best I can.

(I don’t know) whether he can do a full game against Liverpool, if selected, or West Ham, (but) every week there will be more chance of that.

Hatem’s as cautious as we are that his hamstring is protected because he knows that he can influence games comes off the bench and we also need him next season.

But we need him for next year. That’s probably more important than anything else, that we get a good pre-season out of him, and he’s raring to go at that kick-off in August.”