Newcastle United entertain top-five chasing Brighton & Hove Albion in a crucial Premier League clash.
Victory would lift Newcastle up to 13th in the table, whilst sixth-placed Brighton can move to within five points of the top five with a win.
Team News
Anthony Gordon could return for Newcastle after he missed their last two matches due to a hip injury.
Joelinton is back from suspension but Tino Livramento (thigh), Emil Krafth (knee) and Fabian Schar (foot) remain absent.
Brighton have no fresh injury concerns to report following their 3-0 home win over Chelsea last time out.
Solly March (muscle), James Milner (knock), Stefanos Tzimas (ACL), Diego Gomez and Adam Webster (both knee) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Newcastle host Brighton at St James’ Park on Saturday 2 May at 3pm BST, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Newcastle are winless in their last five league meetings against Brighton (D2, L3).
- Brighton have avoided defeat in six of their eight previous Premier League trips to Newcastle (W3, D3, L2).
- Danny Welbeck has scored three goals in two of Brighton’s last three league clashes against Newcastle.
- Newcastle haven’t lost five consecutive league matches since January 2021.
- Brighton have dropped just two points in their last five matches (W4, D1).
Prediction
Having lost four consecutive matches to end any realistic hope of European qualification barring a miracle, Newcastle’s priority now has to be on experimenting and preparing for next season but they just lacked the clinical touch to snatch something in their loss at Arsenal last weekend.
Brighton meanwhile have had a week-and-a-half to prepare for this match after their ruthlessly dominant display against a shambolic Chelsea, which meant that they now have an European spot in their own hands going into the final weeks so I expect them to be confident of getting a result here.
Newcastle though are still a good team despite their losing rut and I do think that they can possibly claw a point from this, but Brighton do have the momentum in this fixture and it’s hard to see them slipping up on current form.
Prediction: Newcastle 1-2 Brighton