Match Preview: Brighton v Newcastle United

Here it is then, our final match preview for a Brighton & Hove Albion home game in the 2019-20 season as Newcastle United come to town.

The Albion need a point to guarantee mathematical safety and if we are being honest, they should be more than capable of picking one up against the Toon Army.

For Steve Bruce’s side have only one fit senior centre back. Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schar, Florian Lejeune and Ciaran Clark are all out injured, leaving Newcastle to seek special permission from the FA to register Under 23 player Kell Watts, who has already been out on loan twice this season.

Throw in the fact that the visitors have been on the beach for weeks as a result of securing their Premier League status ages ago and Brighton find themselves taking on a threadbare squad with nothing to play for.

Not even we could cock this one up, right?

A brief history of Newcastle United
Newcastle United were founded in 1892 and really, they should be one of the biggest clubs in England. 99% of the population of the city lives and breathes football, supporting the Toon Army through thick and thin.

They have never dropped below the top two divisions and since Sky Sports invented football in 1992, have spent just two seasons outside of the Premier League.

And yet you have to go back to 1955 to find the last time Newcastle won a major piece of silverware when lifting the FA Cup. They have won the world’s greatest cup competition six times in total which, combined with four league titles, made them one of the more successful sides of the first half of the 20th century.

Since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, the St James’ Park trophy cabinet has been practically bare. Newcastle remain a sleeping giant who nobody has been able to awaken for approaching 60 years now.

Newcastle United this season
Mike Ashley’s chairmanship certainly hasn’t helped the Newcastle cause over the past decade. This is a man who gave a 17-year contract to Alan Pardew and appointed a clearly unstable Joe Kinnear as manager. Ashley has proven himself time and time again to be ill suited to owning a Premier League football club.

There has been renewed hope in recent months that the Ashley Era might finally be coming to a close. Serious investment from Saudi Arabia looked set to arrive until the FA and Premier League decided to take a look into the source of the money.

Calls to block the takeover have subsequently grown, not because of any concerns about human rights – that would be particularly moronic given that Abu Dhabi already own Manchester City – but because Saudi Arabia does not pay its fair share of broadcast revenue.

The Premier League has effectively said we do not mind unelected leaders who enable slavery, lock up people for being gay and trample over freedom of speech, as long as they give us millions of pounds to show our games on television.

While all this has been going on, what has happened on the pitch has become almost an afterthought. Which is a shame as Bruce has done a fantastic job from the outside looking in.

Rafa Benitez was hailed as a genius for keeping a stronger Newcastle squad in the top flight for two seasons. It is curious that Bruce has maintained the Toon Army’s place in the Premier League more comfortably than Benitez and with a weaker side, yet doesn’t seem to have garnered anywhere near the same credit as was afforded to Bentiez.

Bruce has proven to be a surprisingly inspired appointment by Ashley – and yet because he isn’t Benitez, Newcastle fans still treat him with suspicion and mockery despite the job he has done. A shame.

Brighton’s head-to-head record with Newcastle United
Here’s a statistic for you – Brighton have never lost a top flight game against Newcastle. There have been five meetings to date – all since we won promotion together from the Championship in 2016-17 – with the Albion winning two and drawing three.

Despite that good league record, the FA Cup is the competition which has provided the most joy. Brighton’s run to the 1983 final started with the elimination of Newcastle in the third round and we twice shocked Pardew’s Premier League side when a Championship club in the first couple of seasons at the Amex.

Then there was Brighton’s trip to Newcastle in 1930. There was no upset that day as Charlie Webb’s Division Three South side were beaten 3-0 at St James’ but the game entered the Albion record books thanks to an enormous crowd of 56,469, easily the biggest that Brighton had ever played in front of in their history.

In fact, it would be over 87 years until the Albion performed in front of a larger attendance (excluding the 1983 FA Cup Final) when 59,378 saw Arsenal beat Chris Hughton’s Seagulls 2-0 at the Emirates in October 2017. A reminder of just how big a club Newcastle are.

Brighton’s head-to-head record with Newcastle United

Last six meetings
• Newcastle 0-0 Brighton (Premier League, 21/09/19)
• Brighton 1-1 Newcastle (Premier League, 27/04/19)
• Newcastle 0-1 Brighton (Premier League, 20/10/18)
• Newcastle 0-0 Brighton (Premier League, 30/12/17)
• Brighton 1-0 Newcastle (Premier League, 24/09/17)
• Brighton 1-2 Newcastle (Championship, 28/02/17)

As already noted in our match preview, Brighton are unbeaten in their past five games against Newcastle. That record of two wins and three draws would be even better were it not for some woeful finishing on Tyneside back in September.

Brighton were completely dominant against Newcastle, having over 60% possession and creating countless opportunities. Nobody in green however could find the back of the net. It was the story of the Albion’s season under Graham Potter in one gruelling 90 minutes.

Team news
Adam Webster is a doubt with the whack on the ribs that he took in Thursday night’s 1-1 draw at Southampton and Potter confirmed in his pre-game press conference that Ezequiel Schelotto will not play for the club again following a failure between player and club to agree a new contract.

It would be nice to see Glenn Murray and Neal Maupay given another chance to strike up a partnership in attack. Murray proved his worth at St Mary’s, claiming an assist for Maupay that no other player in this Brighton squad would have been capable of.

Murray deserves to keep his place for what could be his final home game in Albion colours, should Potter decide to move him on in the summer.

Newcastle’s key players
When we spoke to NUFCBlog.co.uk as part of our Brighton v Newcastle opposition fan preview, they were gushing in their praise for Allan Saint-Maximin.

The forward has been unplayable at times and if Brighton can stop him, then there is every chance of picking up the point that we need to finally guarantee survival – especially as it looks like their defence will be selected at random from a set of guys nobody has ever heard of before.

Maybe Potter could lend Steve Bruce his little velvet selection bag to help Bruce decide which youngsters get the opportunity at the Amex?

A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Newcastle United at home
There was something deeply satisfying about beating Newcastle at the Amex in the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2012. That had a lot to do with the fact that Pardew was in the dugout – rarely has there been an opposition manager we enjoy getting one over than that smug Palace twat.

Take Pardew out of the equation though and it was still a fantastic result. Newcastle were (somehow) pushing for the top four at that point, so it was a real statement of intent from Gus Poyet You Know Who and the Albion to knock them out of the competition.

A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Newcastle United at home
Newcastle at home last season was when Brighton picked up the point which ultimately kept them up. It was also the day when you began to sense that Chris Hughton was running out of ideas, which made it a painful experience.

It seemed to be sheer panic that saw Hughton cave and play 4-4-2 for the first time in two years. Pascal Gross was shoehorned on the right wing and Murray was partnered by Andone, who should have been sent off within 20 minutes but somehow got away with a booking.

Hughton had to haul the Romanian liability at half time before he got himself red carded and a return to 4-4-1-1 with Gross central off Murray did at least result in Brighton coming back to draw 1-1.

That first half performance though was as bad as anything we had seen all season – yes, worse even than the 5-0 defeat to Bournemouth and the 2-0 loss against Cardiff City. Grim.

Our favourite player to play for Brighton and Newcastle
This section of our match preview is meant to be reserved for a favourite player to play for Brighton and Newcastle, but we are changing it to favourite manager on this occasion. No prizes for guessing who.

What do we like about Newcastle
The Newcastle area has given us some wonderful celebrities down the years. Ant and Dec obviously lead the way and you also have Cheryl Cole or whatever she is calling herself these days, Sting and Scarlett Moffatt.

Prediction
It is a rare match preview ending with a victory prediction – Brighton 2-1 Newcastle.