Gary Neville claims he would have "hated to play against" Newcastle's Allan Saint-Maximin, after an inspired performance against Arsenal last night. The Frenchman was one of the standout performers as Eddie Howe's side dismantled the Gunners' Champions League aspirations.
Saint-Maximin has had his fair share of critics this season, some just, some unjust, but last night was arguably his best performance of the season. The winger went close to opening the scoring in the first-half, cutting in from the left flank and firing a low drive from the edge of the box towards the bottom left-hand corner.
Aaron Ramsdale was left scrambling across his six-yard box but got a strong enough hand on it to turn the effort behind for a corner. Saint-Maximin had Arsenal right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu at sixes and sevens throughout the opening 45 minutes, with the Japanese international later being withdrawn from play with an injury.
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The right-back has been one of the signings of the season for Arsenal, but the Magpies winger came out on top comfortably last night. Sky Sports pundit Neville said Saint-Maximin was a "defender's nightmare" last night.
He said: "He’s (Aaron Ramsdale) been nervous in parts but this is a big save. I thought he left too much showing at the near-post but he’s got time to react to it but it’s been a struggle down the right but I was saying throughout the first-half, I’d have hated to play against him (Saint-Maximin), he’s a defender’s nightmare just continuously running.”
