As Newcastle prepare to face Aston Villa in search of a third successive win, Paul Merson has paid Allan Saint-Maximin a special compliment and predicted goals galore when the two sides meet at 2pm.
Speaking ahead of a game that could take us four points clear of danger with another victory, the Sky Sports pundit believes we wouldn’t have gone on to beat Everton if the “outstanding” Frenchman hadn’t turned on the style against the Toffees.
That said, Merson also expects Villa’s exciting new signing Phillipe Coutinho to have a big say in the proceedings at St. James’ Park, backing this one to feature two sides on the attack and a game of goals.
He reckons we’ll take a “massive step” towards safety with a win, but backs it to end all square in the end, predicting this one to end in a 2-2 draw.
Speaking to SportsKeeda, he said:
“If it wasn’t for Allan Saint-Maximin, Newcastle weren’t winning their game against Everton.
“He was outstanding on the day, and they’re going to go on the attack here.
“If Newcastle win this game, they’d be taking a massive step towards getting out of trouble. I think they need to get their points now and make hay while the sun shines.
“Philippe Coutinho was very good against Leeds. If you can have players like Jacob Ramsey making runs around him, Coutinho will find them. Coutinho will probably get Ramsey into the England squad.
“Both teams have a go in their Premier League games, and neither team is defensively very good. We saw that with Aston Villa the other night. I think there’ll be a lot of goals in this match.”
Prediction: Newcastle 2-2 Aston Villa
Let’s hope he’s right about this being an entertaining game full of goals – as long as most of them go in the goal we’re attacking!
Hopefully Saint-Maximin can outshine Coutinho, Wood outscore Watkins and Willock show Ramsey how it’s done in the battle of two talented English midfielders.
This will be a tough game against a side who will pose much more of a threat than Everton did in midweek, but what a massive opportunity this is to pull clear of safety after result went our way on Saturday.
