Allan Saint-Maximin has been in fantastic form this season and was tipped by Gabriel Agbonlahor to keep Newcastle United in the Premier League.
The Magpies climbed out of the relegation zone after beating Everton 3-1 on February 8 and went four points clear of the bottom three after beating Aston Villa 1-0 on February 13.
Newcastle have a squad capable of scaling the table thanks to significant investment in January, but Agbonlahor told Football Insider that Saint-Maximin is the one who ‘has been influential’.
He said: “If you look at the wins Newcastle have had, the majority of it has been Trippier and Saint-Maximin. Saint-Maximin has been so influential. I think Newcastle will be fine. I’m betting on (them) to stay up, for sure.”
The 24-year-old has scored five goals with three assists in 25 games this season, creating 37 chances, whipping in 39 crosses and making 105/167 successful dribbles.
Newcastle are unbeaten in five Premier League games and have won three on the bounce ahead of Saturday’s trip to face West Ham United.
Of those three consecutive victories, Saint-Maximin was given a player rating of 8/10 by Chronicle Live for his performance against Everton and 7/10 by Shields Gazette for his performance against Villa.
Eddie Howe has used the uncapped Frenchman consistently since his appointment as manager and is expected to start him against the Hammers.
In other news, Kevin Campbell says Newcastle will miss Kieran Trippier after injury ‘body blow’
