Brighton & Hove Albion look to boost their hopes of a top-eight finish against top-five hunting Newcastle United at the AMEX Stadium.
Victory will see Brighton climb to eighth in the table, whilst Newcastle will return to third with a win.
Team News
Jan Paul van Hecke is available for Brighton after he missed their 3-2 win over West Ham due to concussion.
Joao Pedro is back from his one-match ban whilst Adam Webster and Igor Julio could return from hamstring injuries.
Jason Steele (shoulder), Georginio Rutter (ankle), Ferdi Kadioglu (toe) and James Milner (hamstring) remain sidelined.
Newcastle will be without Matt Targett and Joelinton due to respective hamstring and knee injuries.
Jamaal Lascelles (knee) and Lewis Hall (foot) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Brighton host Newcastle at the AMEX Stadium on Sunday 4 May at 2pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Brighton have avoided defeat in four of their last five league meetings against Newcastle (W2, D2, L1).
- Newcastle are yet to win at Brighton in the Premier League (D4, L3).
- Under Fabian Hürzeler’s reign, Brighton have won both meetings against Newcastle this season in all competitions (W2) – with Danny Welbeck having scored in both games albeit away on Tyneside.
- Eight of Joao Pedro’s 10 league goals for Brighton this season were scored on his right foot.
- No Newcastle player has created more crosses this season in the top-flight than Anthony Gordon (120).
Prediction
Coming into this match off the back of an impressive win over West Ham where they largely dominated without much clinical edge until two late comeback goals, Brighton now need to try and cut out their small marking errors if want eighth and a potential UEFA Conference League spot.
Newcastle though are coming here in strong form with just one defeat since they lost to Brighton in a fiery FA Cup thriller in early March, although they did have to weather Ipswich’s first-half fight before clinically dispatching them so more of that patience might be needed.
Eddie Howe’s Magpies also are yet to beat Brighton under Hürzeler but if they continue to play as well as they’ve lately, I can see that mini hoodoo ending here but my instinct is that Brighton will snatch something such is their home form in this fixture.
Prediction: Brighton 1-1 Newcastle
Result: Brighton 1-1 Newcastle
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