EDDIE HOWE heaped praise on Allan Saint-Maximin after the Frenchman performed a starring role in Newcastle United’s 2-0 win over Manchester United.

Saint-Maximin was back to his best as he tormented the Manchester United defence at St James’ Park, setting up six opportunities during his 68 minutes on the field.

His cushioned header set up Joe Willock’s crucial second-half opener, and while the likes of Anthony Gordon and Joelinton might be pushing for a return to the starting side, Howe was delighted to see Saint-Maximin more than merit his continued inclusion in the starting XI.

The Newcastle boss said: “I thought his (Saint-Maximin) performance was very good. He deserved to keep his place, in my opinion.

“He’d been struggling with a hamstring injury - during the Wolves and Nottingham Forest games I didn’t think he was at his physical best. But in the way that he’d trained during the week, I thought he deserved to start, and he continued his work from the training pitch on the pitch today.

“He released the ball well, and I thought he made really good, intelligent decisions. He played very well and is a good place mentally.”

READ MORE:

Newcastle’s victory enabled them to draw a line under February’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester United at Wembley, although Howe insists extracting revenge was not at the forefront of his or his players’ minds.

He said: “I know a lot of people will make a lot out of that one game, but for us, it wasn’t on our mind.

“It was about winning the game that we needed to win in the league. The very short-term focus was on today. We’ve got three games in six days so the turnaround is very quick, and we wanted a positive start to that week.

“All credit to the players for what they’ve given because that was a high-energy game. The physical outputs will be huge, so we have to recover for another tough one at West Ham.”