Alan Pardew: "Hatem Ben Arfa is back now and we think he should be OK.
“He’s tentative and we’re tentative because it was such a bad injury that he had. But he came through the period of the game well the other night.
“He’s a little bit stiff but we think he can make the bench against Stoke.
"He won’t start. He was the scourge of Stoke last year, he caused them havoc so at some point I’d love to put him out there.
“Without him, it’s a bit like taking Suarez out of Liverpool. To us he’s that special player who can create something and we’ve really missed it.
“There are so many games that are tight in the Premier League. You just need a player to unlock the door sometimes.
“Sometimes you can come off the pitch and say ‘We played really well’, like we did at Stoke (in November) but we didn’t win and he turns them into wins because he just produces the moment.
“And that’s what we are looking for in the last 10 games and hopefully an extension in the Europa League too.
“Certainly we would have had more points on the board if he had been fit, and I believe that we’d be safe by now.”
Source: Newcastle United Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
