One win in eight Premier League matches and defeat in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United; merely one week ago, Newcastle United's resounding exploits under Eddie Howe's tutelage looked to have been hampered, but the engine is now churning once again.

Victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at St. James's Park last weekend preceded yesterday's enthralling encounter at City Ground, where an emphatic Alexander Isak brace sank Nottingham Forest and took the Magpies six points clear of Liverpool, who are sixth in the top-flight.

In both affairs, United entered the closing stages of the match with parity intact, exhibiting their guile and tenacity by seeking out late winners, with £63m record signing Isak's penalty in the 93rd minute against Steve Cooper's Forest integral in the pursuit of Champions League football.

And while successive victories have now been struck, dynamic wide man Allan Saint-Maximin failed to impress in Nottingham, withdrawn from action by Howe at the midpoint.

How did Saint-Maximin perform against Forest?

Last season, Saint-Maximin showcased his fleet-footed brilliance with regularity for his outfit, having signed from Nice for £16.5m in 2019, arguably enjoying his most fruitful year and plundering five goals and five assists from 31 league starts, once hailed as a "marvellous magician" by journalist Luke Edwards.

Howe did reveal in the wake of the encounter that the 26-year-old was struggling with a fitness issue, saying; “Allan wasn’t quite right today, physically, I didn’t think. 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."

As per Sofascore, the £70k-per-week phenom recorded a match rating of 6.6, shadowed by the excellence of Isak and Jacob Murphy on the alternating flank, with the duo picking up ratings of 8.2 and 7.4 respectively.

Saint-Maximin managed just one dribble on the night, completing 67% of his passes and failing with both of his attempted crosses and playing a largely peripheral role, branded "ineffective" by reporter Miles Starforth.

Perhaps an encapsulation of his miserable fortunes lies in his success with the ball at his feet; making a total of 20 touches, the ace lost the ball on ten occasions, failing to register a shot or make a single key pass, utterly nullified by the home back-line.

Centre-back Sven Botman arguably suffered the worst performance on the occasion, recording a lowly 5.9 match rating after making a detrimental error from which Forest talisman Emmanuel Dennis capitalised on to take the early lead, but with the £35m summer signing largely imperious this term, vital in asserting the Magpies' authority as the best defensive unit in the division, conceding just 19 goals.

Such a "poor" performance from the wily winger - as remarked by Chris Waugh - is a bitter reflection of the pro's travails this term, having scored just once and started on only nine occasions in the Premier League.

Saint-Maximin remains one of the most exciting and enterprising forwards in the division, but his potency in front of goal, both directly and from a supporting standpoint, must improve if he is to cement a role in burgeoning Newcastle's squad over the coming, potentially illustrious, years.