Match Preview: Brighton v Newcastle United
If Brighton are going to stay up, they need to do something on Saturday that they haven’t done for 660 minutes – score a goal.
Since Solly March’s over hit free kick was thrown into his own goal by Millwall goalkeeper David Martin at the Den on March 17th, over 11 hours have passed. 11 long hours in which the Albion have failed to put the ball past an opposition striker.
It isn’t like we’ve come up against outstanding goalkeeping performances either. We’re just not creating anything. In the seven games Brighton have played since that FA Cup Quarter Final clash with the Lions, we’ve managed just eight shots on target. One a game. No wonder we’re in trouble.
And without a positive result against Newcastle United, that trouble could deepen. The Albion’s final two games of the season are away at Arsenal and home to Manchester City, two opponents who will be confident that their goalkeepers could play blindfolded and still keep a clean sheet.
That means that the visit of Rafa Benitez’s side to the Amex is our last realistic chance of points this season. Take it, and we should be safe from the spectre of the Championship. Fail, and a Cardiff win against Fulham coupled with victory over Crystal Palace the following week will almost certainly send us down.
Who are Newcastle United?
In theory, Newcastle have all the tools to be one of the biggest clubs in the country. It’s quite a unique place as a city in that virtually everybody who comes from Newcastle supports Newcastle, giving it a huge and passionate fan base. They also have one of the best managers in the world in Rafa Benitez who, if heavily backed, could do great things on Tyneside. For reasons that are normally to do with gross mismanagement, none of this ever translates into on the pitch success however and as a result, the Magpies haven’t lifted a major trophy for 74 years, their last taste of silverware being the FA Cup of 1955. That is one of five FA Cup’s that they’ve won and before the Queen’s coronation they were league champions four times. They came close to success in the 1990s under Kevin Keegan, famously managing to blow a 12 point lead in mid-January to finish second in the Premier League to Manchester United, sparking Keegan’s brilliant “I WOULD LOVE IT IF WE BEAT THEM” rant.
What are they like now?
They’ve been under the ownership of Mike Ashley since 2007, in which time all kinds of weird and wonderful things have happened. The Sports Direct boss has tried to rename St James’ Park after his own company, gave Alan Pardew an eight year contract, signed up to a sponsorship deal with controversial payday lenders Wonga and perhaps best of all, appointed Joe Kinnear as manager. Kinnear was actually insane with the highlight of his six months in charge being to swear over 70 times in a single press conference, including calling Daily Mirror journalist Simon Bird a c**t. One of the few things that Ashley has got right is his appointment of Benitez, who continues to perform miracles in leading a squad that has relegation material written all over it to the upper reaches of mid table, as he has done this season.
Which players should we be worried about?
Well, the good news from an Albion point of view is that Miguel Almiron is injured. He became Newcastle’s record signing in January when arriving for £21,000,000 from MLS side Atlanta United, a fee which broke the £15,000,000 paid for Alan Shearer in 1997. The bad news is that the Magpies’ two top strikers are fit and firing. Ayoze Perez has 10 goals so far with Salomón Rondón one behind on nine. Matt Ritchie has also been a regular in Benitez’s side this season and is one of those players who, like Charlie Austin and Chris Wood, always seems to play well against the Albion.
What’s the Albion’s record like against Newcastle United?
If you’ve still got some straws to clutch after last week, then grab hold of them right now. Although not quite as good as our ridiculous record against Wolverhampton Wanderers, the Albion do lead the head-to-head with Newcastle having won 10 times to the Magpies’ nine. We’ve also never lost a game nor conceded a goal against Newcastle in the top flight. This admittedly doesn’t look quite as impressive when you realise we’ve only met three times in the Premier League, but right now we’ll take anything you can bloody give us.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Newcastle United at home?
For fans of ridiculous stuff happening at football such as Dick Knight cutting a giant birthday cake on the pitch at half time or Nathan Jones being outpaced down the wing by a squirrel, Newcastle’s FA Cup visit in January 2012 was fantastic. Not only did the Albion shock their Premier League visitors 1-0 through a Will Buckley goal, but at the end of the game Adam El-Abd was seen high fiving a giant inflatable FA Cup which had wandered onto the pitch to join in the celebrations, as you do.
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Newcastle United at home?
Tomer Hemed pretty much ended his Brighton career against the Magpies last season. Having already scored what would prove to be the winner, he stupidly and needlessly stamped on DeAndre Yedlin to earn a retrospective three-game ban when he’d actually been starting games as first choice striker. We’ve always liked Hemed – and not just because he is married to a former Miss Israel – so it was a sad way for him to kick start the beginning of the end of his time at the Albion.
Who’s played for both sides?
It only took Gus Poyet three months to realise what many of us suspected after the Albion won League One and that was that neither Casper Ankergren or Sexy Pete Brezovan would be up to the required standard in the Championship. As a result, he brought in Steve Harper on loan from St James’ Park who kept a couple of clean sheets before being summoned back to the North East after an injury crisis. Harper isn’t the only goalkeeper to have played for both sides this decade with Tim Krul having moved to the Amex from Newcastle in the summer of 2017. He spent the year as Albion’s “cup keeper” after being unable to dislodge Maty Ryan before moving to Norwich City whom he has since helped to promotion from the Championship.
Other than football, what is Newcastle famous for?
Newcastle has produced some of Britain’s greatest entertainers including Ant & Dec, Cheryl Whatever Her Surname Is Now and Scarlett Moffatt who I saw presenting the spin off I’m a Celebrity show last year but don’t actually know what she does. It also has one of the country’s most famous bridges, the Tyne Bridge being a nice rip off of Sydney Harbour.
Where’s the betting value for Brighton v Newcastle United?
This is actually a tough one to call. If Brighton play how they did in the unfortunate 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday, then we should be more than capable of getting a result. That’s a pretty big ‘if’ though. Chris Hughton is certain to prioritise not losing over going for the win and that makes a draw at 11/5 look decent value.
Prediction
1-1. We can’t not score for an eighth game in a row, surely?
