ALAN PARDEW remains confident Remy Cabella will be a success at Newcastle United, but concedes that the club’s star summer signing has found it difficult to cope with the physicality of life in the Premier League.

Cabella’s arrival in an £8m move from Montpellier in July ended a lengthy courtship that had initially seen the 24-year-old earmarked as the preferred replacement for Yohan Cabaye in January.

The French playmaker arrived with a lofty reputation that had been further enhanced by his promotion to Didier Deschamps’ national side, but his first two months in a Newcastle shirt were unimpressive and he was dropped from the starting line-up ahead of last month’s 2-2 draw with Swansea.

He has not started any of Newcastle’s last five matches, with this week’s omission from the France squad further underlining the extent to which his stock has fallen since he moved to the North-East.

Pardew freely admits Cabella has found it hard to adapt to English football, with the pace and physical nature of the game having come as something of a surprise, but after his last two substitute appearances against Tottenham and Liverpool hinted at an increased grasp of what is required, the Magpies manager expects the midfielder to be returning to the top of his game soon.

“He’s obviously got technical quality,” said Pardew. “But he’s got to get a grasp of a few other things. I don’t really think he gets the referees yet. He moans (in training) when me and John (Carver) referee, even though I keep telling him we’re better than the Premier League refs.

“He goes down and thinks that some of the challenges in this division should be fouls. He genuinely believes that – but they’re not.

“I think he’s beginning to get the intensity of the division though. The cameos he’s produced have been significant and he’s on the cusp of starting again now as he gets to grips with what this division is about.

“It’s about physicality and mentality, and working out where you should be on the pitch at a particular time. It’s about how you can affect the opposition best, and I think some of his play is too central. He needs to open up the pitch a little bit at times, but his conduct and professionalism are very impressive and that gives you heart that he's going to be a success.”

Cabella is under consideration for a starting spot at West Brom tomorrow, with both Gabriel Obertan and Rolando Aarons ruled out of the game. Pardew is expected to select Yoan Gouffran and Sammy Ameobi in the wide positions, but Cabella could be used in a more attacking role with Moussa Sissoko dropping back deeper into midfield.

With Obertan having torn his thigh muscles during last weekend's win over Liverpool, Aarons had been pencilled in for a return to the starting line-up at the Hawthorns. However, the 18-year-old winger suffered a knock in training yesterday and is now extremely unlikely to be involved.

Cheick Tiote is also unavailable as he continues to recover from a long-standing hamstring problem, and the midfielder will not report for international duty with Ivory Coast next week.

“Aarons is a worry for Sunday because he has got a knock which we are concerned about,” said Pardew. “That (him missing the game) would be disappointing for us because his talent is there for all to see in the little cameos and roles he has had.

“We expect Cheick to have another two weeks of recovery. He won't be travelling internationally and we are going to have to keep our fingers crossed that he could make QPR (on November 22). But I think the game afterwards (against West Ham) is a good target for him.”

Papiss Cisse's fitness will be assessed later today, with the striker regarded as touch-and-go for the trip to the Black Country.

Cisse has taken part in a number of full training sessions this week, but continues to be troubled by the lingering after-effects of his knee surgery earlier this year.

“We are monitoring Papiss at the moment with his knee,” said Pardew. “I don't think he is particularly comfortable with it, but he is training hard and he is training well so I just think that's something that we need to maintain as we go along.

“If it's irritable before a game, we might not start him, or if it gets irritable during the game. But that process will end at some point. It's not something that's going to be ongoing.”

Obertan has undergone surgery to repair the damage in his leg, and is expected to be out for between three to four months.

“He has torn the muscle in his thigh and will be out for some time," confirmed Pardew. “What that will be, I have no idea, but certainly not in the short term. He's had an operation and it's six to eight weeks minimum.

“He has been terrific for us. We had got him in a great place and he was playing with such confidence and thrust that it took the team forward, so it is a blow to us and although we had such a tremendous result against Liverpool, losing Gabby was the blow of the day.”