[Albion] Newcastle United vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[Dick Head]

Newcastle v Albion

PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue: St. James' Park
Date: Sunday 20th September 2020
Kick-off: 14:00 BST
Referee: Kevin Friend
Assistants: Simon Beck, Adrian Holmes
Fourth Official: Robert Jones
VAR: Craig Pawson
Additional VAR: Daniel Robathan
​

TEAM NEWS

Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin has overcome the minor problem he sustained while playing in the League Cup in midweek.

Fabian Schar, Martin Dubravka, Matty Longstaff and Paul Dummett all remain on the sidelines because of injuries.

Brighton are assessing Adam Lallana and Ben White, who both limped off during their club debuts last weekend.

Davy Propper and Alireza Jahanbakhsh both impressed in the Carabao Cup in midweek and are pushing for recalls.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• 
  [*=left]Newcastle are winless in all six Premier League meetings (D4, L2) and have failed to score in five of those games.
  [*=left]The Magpies have won just two of their past 14 fixtures against Brighton in all competitions (D6, L6).
  [*=left]Brighton have only lost one of their past six league visits to St James' Park (W2, D3).

Newcastle

• 
  [*=left]Newcastle are looking to start a league season with consecutive victories for the first time since 1997-98.
  [*=left]Their victory last weekend ended a six-game winless league streak (D2, L4).
  [*=left]They have not won their opening home game in any of the past six seasons, losing the last three.
  [*=left]Newcastle only managed one win in their final seven home league fixtures last term (D4, L2).
  [*=left]Callum Wilson and Jeff Henrick can become the first players since Les Ferdinand to score in their opening two league fixtures for the Magpies.
  [*=left]Wilson is looking to score in consecutive league matches for the first time since a four-game streak between August and September 2019.

Albion

• 
  [*=left]Brighton are unbeaten in a top-flight club record seven away games (W2, D5) - the Premier League's current longest away run without defeat.
  [*=left]Graham Potter's side have won just three of 19 league fixtures so far this calendar year (D9, D7).
  [*=left]Brighton have conceded 13 goals in their past six league fixtures.
  [*=left]They have only ever won one of their previous seven opening top-flight away fixtures (D1, L5), doing so in a 3-0 victory at Watford last season.
  [*=left]Leandro Trossard has scored three goals in his last six league games, as many as in his first 26 appearances in the competition.
  [*=left]If selected, Dale Stephens will become the fourth Brighton player to make 100 Premier League appearances.

 

[SeagullofMalaysia]

were loose

 

[Stat Brother]

As I'm working today, it'll be a chance for you inferior posters to try and gain a valuable point in the 'first with the team news' competition.

Enjoy your squabble while I still sit atop the standings.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Aren’t we early , on a Sunday. Well done......Too soon to start bed wetting but we really want a win or at least a score draw today, to make it a good start to the season. Up the Albion!

 

[sydney]

gunna be tuff

 

[Foul Play Rocks]

Not an easy place to go however, decent performance and at least a point today please.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Classic from the OP. Early post, good badges and a full preview. However, I can't help but worry that the half-arsed effort in mid-week led to a 4-0 win.

They appear to have strengthened well and looked decent against West Ham. On the other hand, no crowd certainly works in our favour and they never do well against us.

Draw written all over it.

 

[Deadly Danson]

Kevin Friend - worst ref in the division. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Icy Gull]

Kevin Friend - worst ref in the division. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[HastingsSeagull]

I'm sorry to report that since it's an 'early' kickoff in Asia, Mrs HSeagull is planning to watch and it's always 0-0 or 0-1 when she does. That said after a beer or two if she falls asleep we often recover in the second half (shows how often she actually watches live). For that reason I'm going for 1-3 prediction, provided she doesn't cause her regular Brighton red card effect either.

 

[Hugo Rune]

They were appalling at the Amex recently. They just sat back and defended really. Only the introduction of Carroll offered any threat.

With all those new signings and being at home, I suspect that they’ll be far more willing to come at us.

However, I still think we’ll have lots of possession and will be faced with two banks of four to break down for large periods of the game.

A draw wouldn’t be unsurprising but if they score first, I’m worried that we’ll be blocked out for the rest of the game.

 

[BrickTamland]

We’re going to batter them.

1-1

 

[Beach Hut]

So excited

 

[veuve]

2 v 2

 

[Icy Gull]

If we lose having had chances that we didn’t take - NSC meltdown, even a draw having missed chances could be a mini meltdown

Win and heated discussions about how badly we (TB) need to spend 25 million

Confess I don’t feel overly confident and that bloody Wilson had better not score!

 

[vagabond]

Newcastle United vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

We completely out played them on their turf last season. Virtually criminal we didn’t take all 3pts, think we had something close to 70% possession for most the game.

They are a bit more fired up now as a club, and I think the underrated Brucey has got them very solid with their counters and set pieces, and of course new players helps.

We may go behind in this one. If we play to our very best and score first we can win, most likely result: draw. I’ll go 2-2.

 

[BN41Albion]

We’re going to batter them.

1-1

Sounds about right to me

 

[southstandandy]

Really hope we can get one over them today. Reading some of the comments on their fans forum they seem to think today's match is a 'given' and about as easy a 3 points they will get this season so it would be great to throw a little spanner in the works.

Good luck today guys. Let's get our first points on the board.

 

[Monkey Man]

I'm not going to be so bold as to say the result doesn't matter – because of course it does. But what I'm really hoping to see is the momentum continuing from the Chelsea and Portsmouth games.

If GP can get our squad of players performing like that on a regular basis, we'll easily pick up enough wins to survive this season, even if we still lose more than we win. And hopefully improve on 15th/16th.

I've gone for 1-1 as I suspect we'll lack the firepower to break them down. But maybe a couple of Ali J screamers will change all that.

 

[vagabond]

Newcastle United vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

Really hope we can get one over them today. Reading some of the comments on their fans forum they seem to think today's match is a 'given' and about as easy a 3 points they will get this season so it would be great to throw a little spanner in the works.

Good luck today guys. Let's get our first points on the board.

I double checked the match stats from last season. Their fans must have very snort memories as we had 71% possession in our game up there last time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49698429