Newcastle United’s quest for their first Premier League win of the season takes them to Watford on Saturday where Allan Saint-Maximin and Ismaila Sarr’s performances could prove key in who gets the points.
Saint-Maximin has two goals and two assists from five games, whereas Sarr has three goals from the same number of matches.
The influential pair come into the clash at Vicarage Road off the back of scoring goals in their last game.
It’s highly likely that Steve Bruce and Xisco Munoz are conjuring up plans on how to stop each other side’s star man from stamping their authority on the game.
Special Watford treatment for Saint-Maximin
Although Sarr currently averages getting fouled more times per game (3.2) than Saint-Maximin (1.8) so far this season, it could in fact be the Frenchman who comes out top in that particular category come Saturday.
That’s because Sarr’s Watford currently average making the most fouls (13.4) per game in the Premier League. In comparison, Newcastle average 8.8 fouls per game and the league’s least frequent offenders are Leicester (7.4) (WhoScored).
Coming up against a player as quick and talented as Saint-Maximin, it seems very unlikely that the Hornets are suddenly going to adopt a different approach and not lay a glove on the 24-year-old.
The former Nice man averages the second most amount of dribbles per game (4.4) in the top-flight, and his powerful and direct running forces players to commit to the tackle.
If Watford retain their robust and physical approach, Saint-Maximin could win some free-kicks in dangerous areas and possibly even our first penalty of the season.
It’s easier said then done fouling Saint-Maximin – you’ve got to get near him first and that will be Watford’s initial challenge.
But if the Watford defenders start to panic and dive into tackles, they could be punished by Newcastle’s mercurial number 10.
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