Brighton vs. Newcastle - Match thread: Down south playin’

After kicking the season off with a victory over promoted Nottingham Forest in an admittedly easy game, Newcastle is facing Brighton Hove & Albion today. This marks the first away game for the Magpies this summer in the Premier League while Brighton will be coming home for the first time this season after defeating Manchester United away in Old Trafford.

Newcastle arrives in Falmer without Jonjo Shelvey—missing the next 12 weeks and most probably not reappearing until Boxing Day or even the 2023 calendar year—while a last-minute issue is also (seemingly) leaving Nick Pope out of the squad for Saturday’s game. Pope joins Shelvey and a list that includes Javi Manquillo, Fede Fernandez, Emil Krafth, and Jamal Lewis as confirmed-out players.

Brighton, on the other hand, comes in fit and ready to launch another blast toward a top-half team in Newcastle after defeating Man Utd. last weekend. While having lost Yves Bissouma and Marc Cucurella, and not having Jakub Moder (ACL) available, the Seagulls had enough to see United off in the first game of the Premier League campaign a week ago scoring themselves a 2-1 victory over the Red Devils.

There’s been a lot of recent matches pitting these two against each other. Newcastle got the better of Brighton the last time they met last season with the Magpies in a clear ascension and Brighton trying to hold onto a top-10 finish in 2022. Other than in the 2020/21 season, when Brighton got away with a combined 6-0 in two matches against Newcastle, things have been incredibly balanced between both clubs with one victory for each and four draws in the past four campaigns.

It can’t be argued that Brighton’s recent run of results going back to last season’s final official games is quite impressive, finishing with three victories and a draw in their last four games of the PL campaign. The preseason was a positive one all things considered and their Premier League debut couldn’t have been much better after sinking United’s ship to even greater depths.

The only additions to the Seagulls squad came in the shape of second-striker Julio Enciso (18 years old) from Libertad in Paraguay and left winger Simon Adingra (20) from Nordsjaelland, two transactions more focused on the future than the present of BHA. Levi Colwill (19), without a clear path to playing time in London, is also joining Brighton on loan from Chelsea this season to man the center of the defensive line.

Brighton Hove & Albion XI

Newcastle United XI

Newcastle vs. Nott Forest

• Date: Saturday, August 13
• Kick-off: 15:00 BST / 10:00 EST / 07:00 PST
• Location: Amex Stadium, Falmer (England)
• TV: BBC Final Score, BT Sport Score (UK), Peacock (USA), fuboTV (Canada)

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Howay the Lads!