Allan Saint-Maximin says that Newcastle United's frightening competition for places can help push them into the Champions League.
The French winger was in sensational form at West Ham as he ran at the home defence all night and caused no end of problems for the relegation-haunted London club. Saint-Maximin's injury troubles now seem behind him but after the game he wanted to talk about standards for Newcastle.
Saint-Maximin told Chronicle Live:"We are very happy with the performance. We talk about consistency and it was very important to win that game (West Ham).
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"If you want to get in the top four that is the type of game we are going to have to win. So we're happy with that. "Especially because we scored a lot of goals, it really was very good."
Saint-Maximin has calmly pushed on to hit the type of levels that saw him pulverise Man City at the start of the season. After that he picked up an injury at Wolves which cost him a big chunk of the campaign. The former Nice star added: "I feel great now. The most important thing for me is always the team though.
"When you can get assists as well that's good. I am very happy for the team and very happy for the two goals of Joelinton as well. This was important for the team to win the game against Brentford."
Howe stated before and after the game how important Saint-Maximin is to him. The Frenchman is being tracked by AC Milan but the rapport between the former Bournemouth boss and Saint-Maximin is now there for all to see.
He said: "The manager trusts me and the manager knows my quality, ability and what I am capable of doing. He let me start against West Ham and again and again. I just need to keep going and give to him exactly what I did at West Ham."
Newcastle stayed in London after demolishing West Ham and are now in the mood to face Brentford. They are based near Chiswick for the next couple of days and will prepare and recover well for the encounter against the Bees.
Saint-Maximin knows there is plenty in reserve, and added:"When we see the players who came off the bench. We have Gordon, Isak and Willock coming on as subs. We have an incredible team and squad. We just need to be focused now.
"There's tough competition and everyone wants to start. When some players come on some players want to give everything to be on the pitch. This will make us do even better."
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