THE excellent Adam Goodwin (@agjournalism) has backed a particular side in the Premier League contest between Brighton and Newcastle.
Brighton v Newcastle | Sunday 24th September 2017, 16:00 | Sky Sports
This is the only Premier League game this Sunday, so let’s hope that Brighton and Newcastle can make up for the lack of entertainment elsewhere in their game at the Amex.
Both these sides were automatically promoted from the Championship last campaign, and with two experienced managers in the dugouts, we can expect an interesting bout this weekend.
Brighton finally finding their feet
After a shaky start to the season, Brighton is finally starting to find their feet in the Premier League.
The Seagulls began their debut top-flight campaign with two defeats to former Premier League champions Leicester and Manchester City but followed that up with a solid 0-0 away at Watford and a superb 3-1 win at home to West Brom.
They went ahead at the Vitality Stadium versus Bournemouth last weekend but couldn’t see the game out, conceding two late goals in what was an encouraging performance by Chris Hughton’s side.
There have been complaints from some Brighton fans regarding Chris Hughton’s negativity and their lack of attacking threat.
It is understood that Hughton was desperately after a striker on Deadline Day but couldn’t complete deals for Vincent Janssen and Florin Andone.
This leaves them with Glenn Murray and Tomar Hemed as their only strikers available for the match against Newcastle, and Hughton may choose to use record signing José Izquierdo as a centre-forward to combat their lack of pace up top.
Toon take positives from start, but there are negatives away from home
Newcastle will take confidence from doing the double over Brighton last season, and Rafa Benitez will also be delighted that some of his key players are coming back from injuries and suspensions. Summer signing Florian Lejeune is still unavailable for the Magpies but DeAndre Yedlin, Dwight Gayle and the previously suspended Jonjo Shelvey could all return.
Looking at Newcastle’s Premier League away form, it’s hard to find a case for them to win on the South Coast this Sunday. The Toon have won just four away games since the beginning of 2015, conceding 61 goals in the process.
One of those away wins was against Swansea a couple of weeks ago, a match the Swans absolutely dominated. They were also defeated 1-0 at Huddersfield, another match Newcastle were sub-standard and didn’t deserve to win.
The angle
When I looked at the odds for this game I was shocked to see Brigton priced up at a huge 9/5. It’s extremely hard to find a case for Newcastle to get anything from this game when you look at their away record in this division.
Brighton might have some issues up-front but Tomar Hemed and Pascal Gross have been more than capable of scoring so far this season, so I can’t see that being an issue.
Back Brighton to win at 9/5 with Bet 365.
Best Bets
Brighton v Newcastle – Brighton to Win (9/5 Bet365)
