Ben Arfa, who is on a season-long loan at Newcastle from Marseille, marked his first start for the Magpies with a stunning winner in the 1-0 victory at Everton on Saturday. The French international is settling into life on Tyneside and he is delighted with his start at his new club. "Sometimes in football you have to take a risk," said Ben Arfa. "I knew about Newcastle and when I came there for the first time, you could see how big it was. "It may have been newly-promoted but it didn't feel like it because there are so many good players at the club - and you could see that on Saturday. "We should be ambitious but we also have to be calm and remember it's pretty early in the season. There is plenty of character in this team so we'll see how far we can take it. "Newcastle are a big, big club with some really astonishing supporters. "When I came here, I wondered what I would find but I am surrounded by some really good players, who will take us far. "It is exactly the sort of club that I left behind in Marseille. They have the same passion among the supporters, the same sense that the club dominates everything in the city. It is a great thing when you play in front of passionate fans. "You want to give them something back, you want to play for them, do your best for them. I am very, very happy that they saw us win and that I scored for them." Ben Arfa hailed his winner against Everton and admits it was vital that Newcastle bounced back to winning ways after their shock home defeat to Blackpool last week. "It was a bit of a dream debut, I just looked up and shot really," added Ben Arfa. "It was a very important win because after losing to Blackpool, the pressure on us was enormous. It was building up inside our heads. And so we are very relieved and happy to have won. "Losing to Blackpool was something we didn't expect. We knew Everton would be very hard and to have won here tells you something about what we can achieve."
