ALLAN SAINT-MAXIMIN and Sean Longstaff both have a chance of featuring in Newcastle United’s top-three showdown with Arsenal at St James’ Park on Sunday.

Saint-Maximin has been sidelined since suffering a hamstring injury in last month’s 5-1 win at West Ham. However, the Frenchman took part in his first training session yesterday and will be assessed in the next 24 hours to see whether he is capable of featuring in the squad to face Arsenal.

Longstaff missed last weekend’s win at Southampton after suffering a foot injury in the 4-1 victory at Everton, and while the midfielder has not yet received the green light to resume training, Eddie Howe is hoping he will be able to return to the first-team group ahead of Sunday’s game.

“Sean is okay,” said the Magpies head coach. “He’s improved. He hasn’t trained yet, but we’re hoping either today or tomorrow, he will. We’ll wait and see.

“Allan has trained – he trained yesterday – and it’s great to see him back on the grass. He trained very well, and we’re really pleased with that. He’s had one training session in the length of period that he’s been out, so we’ll have to make a decision on whether or not we involve him.”

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One of Howe’s main selection dilemmas ahead of Sunday’s game will revolve around whether to pair Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson in the same starting line-up for the first time, with the pair having dovetailed effectively in the second half of last weekend’s win over Southampton.

“It’s certainly not the first time the temptation has been there to play them together,” said Howe. “You have to analyse the opponents and analyse yourselves, and then pick the best team to win the game. That won’t be any different this weekend. Ive thought about lots of different scenarios, but ultimately, my end decision has to be, ‘What does the team need’ not, ‘What does Alex need or Callum need?’”