By Tyne-Talk
October 3 2010
Hatem Ben Arfa left Eastlands 5 minutes into this afternoons game by ambulance as he was transferred to Manchester Royal Infirmary. The midfielder who is on loan from Marseille went down after a strong tackle by City's Nigel De Jong in the 3rd minute of play and received immediate medical care including oxygen on the pitch.
Early reports suggest a suspected broken leg which could take all season to heal, meaning that Ben Afra may have played his last game for Newcastle United.
Later on in the first half Fabricio Coloccini signalled to the bench he was struggling with a hamstring problem, before going down and being replaced by Sol Campbell who made his Newcastle League debut.
Newcastle now have a number of key players sidelined with long term problems;
| Steve Harper | Broken Collar Bone |
| Steven Taylor | Dislocated Shoulder |
| Dan Gosling | ACL Knee |
| Danny Simpson | Ankle |
| Danny Guthrie | Knee |
| Leon Best | Ankle |
| Fabricio Coloccini | Hamstring |
| Hatem Ben Arfa | Suspected Broken Leg |



Quote:OnTheLevee
I can't see Marseille gaining anything from this as it would set a dangerous precedent.
Of course I'm ignoring the fact that De Jong is a complete @#$%& who should get everything that is coming to him.
However, I do think it's rather funny that people are talking about De Jong like he is some new breed of nasty player.
Roy Keane was ten times worse and has confirmed he deliberately set out to injure people on numerous occasions.


