Amex Stadium awaits – Brighton v Newcastle preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Brighton v Newcastle preview.

Sunday 4th May – 2pm kick-off

This bank holiday weekend sees Newcastle make the long trip down to Brighton for yet another massive match, as the race for the top five shows no sign of slowing down.

NUFC have the added incentive of gaining revenge against the Seagulls having lost twice to them already this season, once in the league and once in the FA Cup.

The travelling Toon Army will be hoping their commitment is rewarded with a win, whilst Brighton will be desperate for three points of their own to assist the push for a top half finish.

This promises to be a long weekend for Toon fans with matches affecting the top five taking place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Nottingham Forest’s home defeat to Brentford on Thursday night has given NUFC the chance to open up a five point gap on their rivals in sixth place. Though Man City picked up a lucky three points on Friday night as Wolves had the best chances and hit the woodwork twice, whilst the home side scored with one of only two shots on target.

Newcastle have been in fine form recently and have won five of their past six Premier league matches. Wins have come over Brentford, Leicester, Man United, Crystal Palace and Ipswich, whilst we also deservedly lost to Aston Villa. We’ve racked up an impressive eighteen goals during this run and conceded six. We’ll end the weekend between third and sixth with five teams being separated by just five points in the race to qualify for the Champions League.

Brighton have won only one of their past six matches and that came last weekend when they staged a late comeback to beat West Ham. They have lost three and drawn two. They scored an impressive ten goals in this sequence but conceded fifteen and will end the weekend eighth, ninth or tenth in the table.

Newcastle welcomed Ipswich Town to St James’ Park last weekend with a view to putting things right after a poor defeat away to Aston Villa. A nervy start saw a few half chances for Ipswich in the opening minutes before the Toon grew into a game they would end up dominating. NUFC had already had a goal controversially ruled out before Ipswich were reduced to ten men and from then on it was only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken. Bruno had one cleared off the line before Tonali saw a spectacular effort cannon off the woodwork. Just as it looked like the match may be goalless at half-time, Murphy was pulled back in the area and Isak slammed home a penalty at the Leazes End to give Newcastle United the lead. The second half was more akin to a training match with Newcastle all over their opponents, headers from Dan Burn and an elated William Osula added some gloss to the final score on a day when both sets of supporters paid tribute to the late, great Sir Bobby Robson.

Brighton played host to West Ham United and survived a major scare to pick up three points. Ahead at half-time, the main drama was saved for the second half. West Ham turned things around to lead 2-1 with just seven minutes to go. Brighton came back to equalise in the eighty ninth minute and even had time to seal a victory with a strike two minutes into injury time. This was a great result for Brighton who’d gone five league matches without a win but still harbour dreams of European qualification.

Stat attack!

Look away now!

Newcastle are without a win in their past seven visits to Brighton.

The Toon have won just once in their last twelve away games with Brighton.

Newcastle have been beaten by Brighton twice this season, 1-0 in the league and 2-1 in the FA Cup.

Newcastle have never won a Premier League away match against Brighton.

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 Cristian 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.

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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

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 thirteen long and miserable years. Always consistent, professional and having an eye for goal, one of his 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 and is still on their books to this day.

Tim Krul made his Newcastle debut in exceptional circumstances aged just eighteen. Thrown into the starting line-up due to an injury crisis away to Italian table-toppers Palermo in the UEFA Cup, the Dutch goalkeeper made half a dozen eye catching saves on a night when everything went right for United despite spending almost the entire ninety minutes on the back foot. The night was topped off when Spanish flop Albert Luque headed the only goal of the match to hand United a memorable European conquest. This wasn’t Krul’s only highlight during his time at the Toon, man of the match performances away to West Brom and Tottenham were both incredible performances. A 1-0 win at White Hart Lane in particular defied belief as Wor Tim made more saves than any other ‘keeper in a Premier League match on an afternoon that saw him refuse to be beaten. He’d go on to sign for Brighton in 2017 and spend one year on the South Coast. He tended to be used as a back-up but did play cup games for the Seagulls.

Chris Wood spent some time on loan at Brighton from West Brom early on in his career and scored eight league goals during his time there. He’d play for NUFC under Eddie Howe and score four goals, including a headed equaliser in a fine away win against Southampton. He then signed for Nottingham Forest in 2023 and haunted Newcastle with a boxing day hat-trick at St James Park. He’s currently enjoying a brilliant season with nineteen Premier League goals, taking Forest to the brink of qualification to the Champions League.

Managers

Eddie Howe (back in the dugout after spending time in hospital with Pneumonia) after a 3-0 home victory over Ipswich:

“It was difficult and we expected that. It was a day to be patient and make good decisions with the ball. The opening goal was a massive turning point. When you’re running out of games as we are, you want to get back into the positions that you want to be in. We know how tight it is, we know the quality of clubs we’re competing against, but all we can do is try to win our games and it was a big step forward today. It will go down to the wire I think, the important thing was that we bounced back from last week which was a disappointing defeat, but we’ve been very consistent and it’s a real good return to a positive result and now we have four huge games.”

Fabian Hurzeler after an injury time 3-2 home win against West Ham:

“I didn’t enjoy it because shortly before the end we were 2-2 and we wanted to win the game but the moment when we scored, that was unbelievable. You saw the reaction from the players, the crowd, the staff and the fans. We really wanted to win so this was a special moment. You always have to believe and trust your ability – and that is what the guys did today. They had setbacks but they reacted in the right way. They stayed together, especially the way Lewis Dunk led the team was impressive.”

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.

With just four games left, every single point will prove crucial in the race for qualification for the Champions League. Eddie Howe has it spot on when he talks about this being a five team league. Qualification is in our hands, four wins will guarantee NUFC welcoming the elite of Europe to St James’ Park next season. There will be twists and turns however and unfortunately I feel this weekend we’ll have to be content with a point.