Reports this afternoon indicate Hatim Ben Arfa will miss the opening two games of the season for Newcastle United.
The Frenchman flew home from the club’s US tour last week following a robust challenge in a game against Sporting Kansas City and looks to have suffered ankle ligament damage on his left leg- the same one broken by Nigel de Jong in Ben Arfa’s fourth game in a Newcastle shirt last season.
Having visited a specialist in Paris this week, Ben Arfa’s news has come as some relief; club insiders were braced for the worst and a three month spell on the sidelines was even thought possible.
The news means Ben Arfa will miss out on the season opener at home to Arsenal and the gameweek 2 match away to rivals Sunderland- coming in at 5.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) he was of particular interest to Fantasy managers, with a place behind the front man in a 4-5-1 formation being mooted early on.
Whether this propels new signing Yohan Cabaye (6.0) into Alan Pardew’s thinking as a more attack-minded midfielder remains to be seen, though Joey Barton (6.0) would offers more security at present. With neither player allowed a visa for the club’s US tour, a friendly against Leeds on the 31st of July should see them line up in the Newcastle first-team as Pardew ramps up his preparation ahead of the big kick-off.
