Newcastle suffer injury setback in race for top-four

Saint-Maximin picked up the injury in Newcastle's 5-1 win over West Ham and went for scans after the game with results revealing damage to his hamstring.

Subsequently, the 26-year-old was unavailable for Saturday’s 2-1 victory against Brentford, where an own goal from David Raya and an Alexander Isak strike helped the Magpies cancel out Ivan Toney’s opener.

Speaking at the end of the win against Brentford, head coach Eddie Howe revealed Saint-Maximin would be out or “maybe a couple of weeks”.

 “I don’t think it’s serious with Allan,” said Howe.

 “He didn’t feel his best in the West Ham game so we decided to scan him and it revealed a very minor problem with his hamstring. We knew pretty much straight away he wasn’t going to be available for this game."

“Maybe a couple of weeks, I’m guessing slightly. Nothing too serious but that was a big blow because of the form Allan has been in. But again, we back the strength of the squad.”

Saint-Maximin was on his best run of appearances, starting four consecutive games in the run-up to the Brentford clash, and contributed consecutive assists in victories over Manchester United and West Ham United.

Saint-Maximin could be unavailable for the next 4-5 games which could mean he would miss fixtures against Tottenham, Everton, Southampton, and potentially Arsenal.

Newcastle are currently third in the Premier League, equal on points with Manchester United as the battle for the top-four hots up.

The Magpies travel to Villa Park to take on the high-flying Aston Villa who have been in excellent form in the past month.