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Brighton picked up in impressive victory at St James Park on Saturday afternoon has Fabian Hürzeler’s side won 1-0 against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle.
Brighton started the month strongly before the international break, coming from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham 3-2 at the Amex Stadium. Newcastle would fail to win their first game of the month at Goodison Park, as they played out a 0-0 draw with Everton where Anthony Gordon missed a penalty.
Despite a disappointing result following a game they were expected to win before the international break, Newcastle started the game on the front foot, a position they would maintain throughout the game. The opening 20 saw Newcastle dominating possession, maintaining the ball 53% of the time.
The first major chance for the Magpies would come in the 32nd minute, where a perfectly weighted through ball from Italian midfielder Sandro Tonali would play Alexander Isak through 1v1 against Bart Verbruggen, but the dutch keeper would be equal to Isak’s effort. Though it was a good save from Verbruggen, it’s a chance one would expect Isak to finish, as it’s this prolific element of his game that saw him score 21 goals last season in the Premier League.
However, just a few minutes later, a clearance from Lewis Dunk would find its way to Danny Welbeck waiting patiently in the Newcastle half, who takes it down excellently and plays a quick 1-2 with Frenchman Georginio Rutter, before showing brilliant composure and putting Brighton 1-0 up.
It was a goal completely against the run of play, with Newcastle keeping Brighton pinned in throughout most of the game before and in fact after the goal also. The Welbeck dagger was a punishment for their lack of clinicality though, and would be a harsh reminder that if you don’t take your chances in the Premier League, you will be punished, regardless of opponent.
Newcastle would continue to push, with Anthony Gordon being the brightest spark as ever on the wing, and would come close in the 40th minute where a powerful and bending effort would be tipped over by Verbruggen, who continued to keep Eddie Howe’s side out.
The second half saw no changes to the pattern of the game, as Newcastle continued to probe at the Brighton defence, who were excellently set up by Hürzeler. Brazilian defender Igor would continue to impress alongside captain Lewis Dunk, who would continuously deny efforts from the likes of Isak and Joelinton.
The Brighton defence would be undone once more though from a direct through ball, where this time it would be Anthony Gordon played in, who continued to be positive and energetic on the ball. However, his performance was also characterised on the afternoon by elements of wastefulness, as his effort after being played through would be easily saved by Verbruggen.
In the 81st minute, catastrophe would strike for the Seagulls, after star striker at the moment Danny Welbeck would be stretchered off and given oxygen. Thankfully since then, Welbeck has confirmed he’s healthy and intends to return to training this week.
Despite the likes of Harvey Barnes, Miguel Almiron and Will Osula brought on in the second half, Newcastle would continue to lack ideas and any real quality in the final third, and Brighton would hang on after 11 minutes of added time to take all 3 points back to the south coast.
3 points for Brighton saw them move into 5th, above the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Newcastle, who following the defeat sit in 9th. Brighton return to the Amex this weekend against a struggling Wolves side, while Newcastle travel to Stamford Bridge for a tough test against Chelsea.
