Newcastle United welcome Brighton to St James’ Park as both teams look to move away from the relegation zone with victory.
A win will lift Newcastle out of the bottom three whilst depending on earlier results, Brighton could climb further into mid-table.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesNewcastle could have Andy Carroll available for the first time since he rejoined the club this summer, despite still recovering from an ankle injury picked up last season with West Ham.
Fabian Schar (calf) and Allan Saint-Maximin (thigh) are also set to feature against Brighton.
Sean Longstaff and Matt Ritchie could both be back in the match day squad next weekend if can fully overcome ankle injuries, alongside DeAndre Yedlin who has a groin injury.
Florian Lejeune (knee) and Dwight Gayle however are both still absent for the foreseeable future.
Brighton could have full-backs, Martin Montoya and Bernardo available after recovering from respective illness and knock.
Ezequiel Schelotto won’t be risked here as he continues his recovery from a knee injury but could be available for their Carabao Cup clash with Aston Villa on Wednesday.
Leandro Trossard (groin), Jose Izquierdo (knee), Leon Balogun (muscle) and Alireza Jahanbakhsh (undisclosed) are all ruled out for the foreseeable future.
Form
Newcastle have lost three of their opening five league matches but have scored in each of their last five in all competitions.
Brighton made a bright start with four points from their opening two games but have picked just one point from their last three, with seven goals conceded in those latter matches.
Stat Attack
- Newcastle have won just two of their last six meetings with Brighton although both victories came during the 2016-17 Championship season (W2, D2, L2).
- In each of the last two seasons, Brighton have won the first fixture against Newcastle by 1-0 results.
- Two of Brighton’s three Premier League goals against Newcastle have come in the second half.
- Newcastle have made 131 clearances so far this season in their five games. Only Norwich have produced more, making 152 clearances.
- Neal Maupay is the only Brighton player to score more than one of their five league goals this season.
Prediction
This hasn’t been an entertaining fixture in the past two seasons so we definitely should expect a tight match like usual.
I therefore can see a draw here because Brighton will let Newcastle do the attacking but their defence will soak up the pressure before unleashing fast paced attacks of their own, which will probably cancel one another out.
Prediction: Newcastle United 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Result: Newcastle United 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
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