Out-of-favour Ben Arfa receives team-mates' backing

Thiago Motta and Adrien Rabiot have implored Hatem Ben Arfa to remain patient and wait for his chance to shine at Paris Saint-Germain.

PSG won 3-0 at home to Dijon in Ligue 1 on Tuesday, with head coach Unai Emery leaving Ben Arfa out of the matchday squad for the third game in succession.

Ben Arfa moved to the French capital on the back of a stunning 2015-16 campaign, which saw him score 17 times in 34 league appearances to fire Nice to a fourth-placed finish.

The playmaker has completed 90 minutes only once this this season, in the Trophee des Champions, and both Motta and Rabiot understand it must be a difficult situation for the 29-year-old.

"I'm glad to see a player of his quality in the squad," Motta told RMC. "We are a lot of players and it's not easy for the coach to make his choice.

"For Hatem, the advice I can give him is to continue working. He is a great player, he demonstrated that last year and he will get opportunities.

"Everybody tries to help, in the field and mentally too, for him to again become the Hatem we saw last year. He was very good with Nice.

"We're a team, he is part of the team. We will support Hatem to the end."

"He's a boy that works. When he has a chance, I am sure he will seize it," added Rabiot. "It is not an easy situation to be discarded like that, not being able to participate with his team-mates."

Earlier this week, Emery said he felt Rabiot had "a great future" with both PSG and the France national team.

The 21-year-old has yet to earn a senior international cap, and concedes the prospect is beginning to occupy his thoughts.

"The coach [Didier Deschamps] looks at matches and the performances of everybody and then he will make his choice, but of course I think about it a little," he said.