Newcastle United Striker Leon Best Injured For Rest of the Season
Alan Pardew reveals that Best is likely to miss the rest of the season, with utility man Ryan Taylor also missing for this weekend.
Alan Pardew has revealed that striker Leon Best is likely to be out for the rest of the season through injury. Speaking at Newcastle United's pre-match press conference ahead of the visit to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening, Pardew said that Best's injury is more serious than the initial prognosis of six weeks. I think it will be very doubtful that we will see Leon again this season, and that is a blow for us because he has been great. We have lost three or four players to long-term injuries, and have been a bit unlucky with that. Steven Taylor, Sylvain Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi and now Leon, so we have been unlucky on that front. Best started the Premier League match last Sunday alongside the returning Demba Ba, but he was forced off the field with knee ligament damage after clashing with Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock on ten minutes. With the emergence of new signing Papiss Cisse, Best was likely to become the third choice striker at the club anyway until the end of the season, but back-up duty will now move to Shola Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands and his loss will be felt. Best has scored four goals this campaign and although not a great return, it still leaves him as the second top scorer at the club. Another sour note for Newcastle is that utility man Ryan Taylor, who was also injured by the feet of Warnock last Sunday, will mean he also misses the game for the weekend. Weve also lost Ryan Taylor I think for this weekend, so it is really disappointing. But in terms of the players we do have available, they are in good form and we can take that into Spurs. Its a big game in the Premier League, Weve got ourselves in a great position, although we have some injuries so there are a few out. But we are still going to go there in good heart and hopefully get the right result. We can only go and do the best job we can do. We are a strong team and we are in good form, so we just have to take that into the arena and hopefully cope with all thats going on. Speaking as a Newcastle fan, hopefully Ryan Taylor's injury won't be as long term as Best.