Alan Pardew says he can’t afford to lose Ben Arfa to another recurrence of his hamstring injury.
Alan Pardew: “I still need to protect his hamstring – I can’t afford to lose him in the run-in.
“If we can get him into a position where he is fatigued, there’s more chance of him injuring his hamstring again.’
“I will use Hatem the maximum again without him getting into a fatigued area. Basically, I’m going to 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.
”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.”