Amex Stadium now awaits – Brighton v Newcastle preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Brighton v Newcastle preview.

Saturday 18th October – A 3pm kick-off.

Now that another tedious international break is behind us, Newcastle United can look to improve on a frankly appalling Premier League record away at Brighton.

The Magpies are hoping to win their third game in succession having recently dispatched of Union SG and Nottingham Forest.

Nick Woltemade and Anthony Gordon will be keen to continue their goalscoring international form having netted for Germany and England midweek.

The Seagulls however will be hoping to leapfrog the Toon in the league table whilst preserving an unbeaten home Premier League record against NUFC.

This is a massive match for Newcastle who need to now put a run of form together to achieve the consistency that will allow us to challenge for the European places come the end of the season.

The last six league matches have seen the Toon win two, draw two and lose two, scoring six goals and conceding five. The eight points gained in this sequence has seen us climb up to eleventh in the league and a win could see us in the top six on goal difference, depending on results elsewhere.

Brighton have also won two, drawn two and lost two of their last six league games, scoring nine goals and conceding seven. They are level on points with the Toon (behind on goal difference) and will have similar ambitions of being in the European places come the end of the weekend.

Last time out

Newcastle hosted Nottingham Forest at St James’ Park two weeks ago and ran out deserved 2-0 winners. A dominant second half display saw goals from Bruno and Woltemade secure the points. Both goals were special in their own right, Bruno lashing home at the Gallowgate End before Woltemade showed incredible technique to bury a penalty into the top corner.

Brighton travelled to Wolves and earned a 1-1 draw thanks to a late header from Jan Paul van Hecke. Despite coming from behind to snatch a point late on, Brighton were disappointed not to have gained three points against the team rooted to the bottom of the table without a PL win all season.

Newcastle have yet to win a Premier League match away at Brighton in eight attempts.

The Toon have drawn five and lost three of their eight Premier League visits to the Amex Stadium.

The last eleven trips to Brighton have seen just one NUFC victory, a 2-1 win in the Championship under Rafa Benitez.

Memorable match

In February 2017, Rafa Benitez took his Newcastle United to the South Coast to do battle with a Brighton team that were pushing the Toon all the way in the race for the Championship title. This was an absolutely crucial match and the travelling Toon Army soon had that sinking feeling when the Seagulls were awarded a fairly soft penalty to take an early lead. The first half was a tepid affair but Christian Atsu was presented with a golden chance to equalise on forty-five minutes, unfortunately he was only able to blast an effort against the goalkeeper.

Newcastle grew into the match in the second half and twice went close through efforts from Daryl Murphy. When the equaliser did come, it would go down as one of the strangest goals in NUFC history! There was very little danger when Atsu miskicked a shot from outside the area but the ball flicked off Mo Diame’s heel and looped over the stranded goalkeeper. Our scorer knew very little about this goal but that didn’t stop the away end celebrating wildly especially as there was only nine minutes left. Even better was to follow. In the very last minute, Atsu burst down the left and crossed for Ayoze Perez to send a firm shot into the bottom corner. Newcastle United went top of the league and Rafa Benitez would go on to lift the Championship trophy. Happy days!

Final score: Brighton 1-2 Newcastle.

Played for both

Aaron Hughes played eight seasons for NUFC after memorably making his debut at the Nou Camp on a rainy night in 1997. Praised for his versatility and consistency, it was a shock when Greame Souness decided to offload the captain of Northern Ireland to Aston Villa for just one million pounds in 2005. He’d go on to spend a season at Brighton in 2014, playing a handful of matches in the first few months of that campaign.

James Milner was signed by Sir Bobby Robson in 2004 from Leeds United. He spent four years at the Toon before being controversially sold against the wishes of Kevin Keegan. He’s fondly remembered for salvaging a derby draw away to Sunderland in 2007 when his cross eluded everyone and sneaked in off the back post for a late equaliser under Sam Allardyce. His departure was to have huge ramifications for NUFC and led to Keegan walking away from Mike Ashley’s disastrous regime, ensuring a civil war between fans and owner that lasted until Ashley’s departure in October 2021. Always consistent, professional and having an eye for goal, one of Milner’s highlights came during a 2-2 draw with Man Utd on New Year’s Day 2007 when he buried a superb effort at the Leazes End. He’d play for Aston Villa, Liverpool and Man City before joining Brighton.

Big Dan Burn is a Newcastle United legend having opened the scoring for the Toon in the League Cup final. His bullet header paved the way for our first major trophy in fifty-six years. The goal and prolonged celebration will live long in the memory and his place in our history is assured. Being a local lad, he’s not always been based in the North East having spent four seasons with Brighton between 2018 and 2022. This connection however didn’t stop him celebrating burying a header against the seagulls in 2023.

Managers

Eddie Howe after a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest:

“A huge win for us. The players have done really well this week to recover from the Arsenal game in the way that they have to put that game to the back of our minds and to refocus on two hugely important games, Champions League, to get our season going in that competition. And then, of course, the importance of the Premier League. It’s such an important competition for us. We’ve maintained very good standards the last few years. We needed to maintain them. At home, I thought it was vital we won today. I thought it was a good performance. I thought we played some really good football in both halves. I thought in the second half we played a lot quicker and a lot more dynamic. And we asked more questions of them and eventually we got rewarded for that. But I thought we controlled the game in both halves. I thought we had control of the second half and we needed a moment to bring us the goal. Bruno’s goal was a moment of magic from an unbelievable player, and he’s been so consistent for us for a long period of time, and he makes a difference more often than not, so l’m delighted for him.”

Fabian Hurzeler after a 1-1 draw away at Wolves:

“We got the belief and confidence back, tried hard in the second half, created danger and in the end we deserved more but have to accept a point. It’s not an easy place to come here. If you look at the table you can say Wolves only have two points but when we look at the games they deserve more than what they have. Overall, it was a good performance but not a great performance. We can play better football but they are not machines so we have to accept it in good moments.”

Charity

As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online go HERE.

This is a tough one to call, both teams are in decent form at present but will be looking for more consistency and a climb into the top half of the table. Brighton have enjoyed good wins this season over both Chelsea and Man City but will feel they dropped two points when drawing with Wolves. Newcastle have looked better recently and will be keen to see even more goals from the in-form Woltemade. I fancy him to get another this weekend but feel we may have to settle for a point. Brighton 1-1 Newcastle