Allan Saint-Maximin explains why he's ‘not important’ at Newcastle United ahead of Leicester City

The 25-year-old winger hasn’t started a Premier League match for Newcastle since scoring a stunning late equaliser at Wolverhampton Wanderers back in August. He picked up a hamstring injury that ultimately sidelined him until the back end of October following a set-back.

After coming off the bench to help The Magpies progress to the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup with a 1-0 win over Bournemouth on Tuesday night, Saint-Maximin is now eyeing a start for the Boxing Day match at Leicester City (3pm kick-off).

But Saint-Maximin admitted he couldn’t have any complaints about not being in the side as he is ‘not important’ compared to the team.

“I just keep working hard to be honest,” Saint-Maximin told The Gazette. “I have nothing to say because the team are winning.

"When the team win, all you can do is try to give everything when you come on and give some things to your team. Finally, I am not important, the team are more important than me and players like Joelinton really deserve to play because he is a player who has helped the team be in that position.

"I just need to keep going to work hard and show what I am capable to do and how I can help the team.

“Now I’m looking forward to playing the game against Leicester and to help the team win that game because I haven’t lost any games this season and I hope this will keep going.”

A lot has changed since Leicester beat Newcastle 4-0 at The King Power last December, but The Foxes have won four of their last five league matches prior to the World Cup break.

“Leicester will always be a very good team to play against,” Saint-Maximin admitted. “They have incredible players and we just walk out to be ready for that. It was important for us to start with a win [against Bournemouth].

“We go there to win, we start very good this season and we are a very difficult team to beat. I hope this will keep going until the end of the season.”