Al’s Hat trick to keep Arfa safe
ALAN PARDEW will wrap Hatem Ben Arfa in cotton wool during the international break – and hope the phone doesn’t ring.
Newcastle’s man of the moment is only on stand-by for France, despite making a stunning start to the season.
The 25-year-old has found the net in two of Toon’s three Premier League games so far, including a stunning equaliser to earn a point against Aston Villa. Ben Arfa’s express start is all the more impressive after he was restricted to just 45 minutes in pre-season due to injury and international duty.
Pardew is keeping his fingers crossed that France boss Didier Deschamps suffers no late withdrawals for games against Finland and Belarus so he can keep Ben Arfa safe and sound.
The former Marseille midfielder is recharging his batteries for the return to action at Everton later this month and Pardew said: “Fortunately for us Hatem’s not with the France squad, so we have him for another couple of weeks.
“We’ll wrap him in cotton wool and wait for Everton because he’s on fire for us at the moment.
“He’s been our best player so far, he’s put in some fantastic displays and it’s clear that he is just a special talent.”
Toon crock Ryan Taylor has turned to fishing to help reel in the boredom during his long injury lay-off.
Taylor, 28, is out for up to six months after suffering serious knee ligament damage in the Europa League win over Atromitos last week.
The Scouser’s Geordie team-mates did their best to cheer him up by wearing his name on their training tops before the Villa game.
Rod
Taylor is confident of making a full recovery, but admits he needs to find a new hobby to help keep him busy.
He risks going stir crazy and admits he’ll be like a fish out of water with so much spare time on his hands.
So he is off to buy a rod and net and head to the nearest lake to help take his mind off things for the next few weeks.
He revealed: “It’s time to get a new hobby for a few months to keep me busy. I’m thinking of giving fishing a go, but if anyone has any other ideas I’m all ears.”