Newcastle United Allan Saint-Maximin concern, Nottingham Forest owner rage & Dubai update – moments missed

Fresh Newcastle United injury blow confirmed before kick-off

Newcastle were dealt a low before kick-off as top scorer Miguel Almiron was ruled out of the match.

The 29-year-old pulled his thigh muscle in training on Thursday and went for an MRI scan which confirmed the extent of his injury. Paraguay manager Guillermo Barros Schellotto explained ahead of the Forest match that he had not selected Almiron for his upcoming national squad due to injury.

Reports from Paraguay claimed the winger would miss three weeks though Magpies boss Eddie Howe claimed the injury is more serious.

“Unfortunately, it’s quite a bad one,” Howe said after the game. “It’s going to be six weeks.”

Jamal Lewis stepped into the matchday squad in Almiron’s place as Howe named an unchanged starting line-up from the win over Wolves. United’s nine-man bench included five players who have played in a full-back position for the club plus Jamaal Lascelles, Elliot Anderson, goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and Callum Wilson.

Allan Saint-Maximin concern

Allan Saint-Maximin started the match with both legs and his right arm bandaged up and struggled to make an impact during his time on the pitch. Newcastle went behind as defender Sven Botman accidentally played Emmanuel Dennis through on goal and the Forest man proceeded to dink the ball over Nick Pope.

In order to win, Newcastle would have to do something they hadn’t all season and come from behind to secure the three points. Though they have spent fewer minutes trailing games than any side in the Premier League this season.

And by the stroke of half-time, Saint-Maximin helped draw Newcastle level as he released Joe Willock to cross the ball for Alexander Isak to volley exquisitely into the bottom right corner to make it 1-1.

Despite his contribution, the Frenchman was taken off at half-time with Howe claiming a slight ‘tightness’ was the issue.

“Allan wasn’t quite right [v Forest], physically, I didn’t think," said United’s head coach. “He’s been carrying a tight hamstring. I don’t think it’s a pull, it’s just a little bit of tightness.

"For me, it was obvious during that first half that he probably wouldn’t be able to carry on. I didn’t want to expose Callum today, he hasn’t done a lot of training, so I decided to go with Elliot and he repaid me, he did really well. Hopefully, we’ll have Callum and Maxi fit and available after the international break.”

Anderson would certainly repay the faith shown in him by Howe as he headed the ball into the goal from Isak’s cross to seemingly give Newcastle the lead only for VAR to cruelly rule it out.

Nottingham Forest owner’s rage at Newcastle goal

Although Forest had no real complaints about the penalty decision, manager Steve Cooper felt hard done by the equalising goal.

“I won’t dwell on the fact too much, because as I said we made our own decisions, but it was definitely a foul on Andre [Ayew] in the build-up,” Cooper said. “The referee has made a poor decision and so have we.”

Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was also understood to be furious that Isak’s goal was allowed to stand after Willock clashed with Ayew.

Kieran Trippier’s captain’s mentality in stoppage time as Isak makes a statement

Newcastle would still have the last laugh in stoppage time as Moussa Niakhate handled the ball inside the penalty area and referee Paul Tierney, after a small delay, pointed to the spot. There seemed to be some deliberation as to who would take it with Alexander Isak initially looking likely before Kieran Trippier and even Fabian Schar looked to be in contention.

But it was Trippier who took the ball and stood over it for an extended period as he faced the brunt of the mind-games from goalkeeper Keylor Navas and the Forest players. Even Sky Sports were fooled as they showed Trippier’s recent penalty kicks as if he was going to step-up and strike it.

But just as the referee was about to blow, Trippier swapped with Isak to step-up and convert with confidence without having to deal with any abuse or attempts at psyching out. Although Isak admitted after the game, Navas told him he knew he would end up taking the penalty despite Newcastle’s attempt to deceive.

But it was Isak who ran away shushing before celebrating in front of the overjoyed travelling Toon Army in the away end. It's the Swedish international’s sixth goal in just seven Premier League starts for Newcastle.

And after Howe’s recent comments about the 23-year-old not being able to play 90-minutes, it was fitting that he was on the pitch and able to complete his first full game of the season and help The Magpies secure a huge win going into the international break.

Newcastle United flying out to Dubai as lesser-spotted players seen at City Ground

Outside of the matchday squad, Anthony Gordon was seen in attendance congratulating his team-mates at full-time. Gordon is currently out nursing an ankle injury.

The lesser-spotted Harrison Ashby was also part of the travelling squad for the first time since his January arrival along with goalkeepers Loris Karius and Mark Gillespie. Long-term injured defender Emil Krafth was at the City Ground as well, and the reason would become obvious after the game.

Howe confirmed that the squad would be jetting straight to Dubai for their warm-weather training camp during the international break. The Magpies would fly from East Midlands Airport to the United Arab Emirates where they would train at the state-of-the-art at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex for the second year running.

Newcastle’s Under-21s players were also at the game ahead of facing Forest Under-21s away on Saturday.