when we bought him he was a winger. i assume the reason he's seen as a striker is a mixture of the Jonas, Raylor playing at left back and a lack of striking options. Still today shows that Obertan staring on the wing in front of him is a farce. Can't see for the life of me what is so bad about playing Jonas RW and playing Ben Arfa LW. then at least we'll have a left footed left winger and a right footed right winger, instead of a right footed left back, a right footed left winger and a left footed right winger.
Aye, it's just that Pardew seemed unconvinced about Ben Arfa playing on the wing but today has certainly shown the merits of playing Hatem out there.