Newcastle United will play hosts to Brighton and Hove Albion at St. James’ Park on Sunday afternoon as they look to secure all three points from their first home match of this Premier League campaign. The Magpies are in fine form at the moment after they picked up back to back victories against West Ham United and Blackburn Rovers respectively.
Steve Bruce will probably go with the 4-4-2 formation and might name the same side that started against the Hammers last weekend. We can expect Andy Carroll to resume his attacking partnership with Newcastle’s new signing, Callum Wilson up top.
4-4-2 Newcastle United Predicted Lineup To Face Brighton
Defence
Karl Darlow will return in goal for the Tyneside club after being rested in the win over Blackburn in the second round of the EFL Cup in midweek. Jamaal Lascelles will once again strike up a defensive partnership with Federico Fernandez at the heart of Bruce’s defence as they try to cope with the threat of Brighton’s Neal Maupay and Leandro Trossard this weekend.
Javier Manquillo will be a nailed-on starter at right-back while Jamal Lewis fills in on the other side as the left-back. Both of them will look to maintain a good defensive shape so that they restrict the Seagulls from creating too many goal-scoring chances from the wide areas.
Fabian Schar remains sidelined due to injury, and Paul Dummett is unlikely to be ready in time for this contest as well. However, Emil Krafth should be available for a place on the bench.
Midfield
Jonjo Shelvey will anchor the midfield along with Isaac Hayden as they concentrate on closing the opposition down at the centre of the park and orchestrate some decent chances to score for their teammates in the attacking third. Allan Saint-Maximin will hope to use his pace to make some darting runs down the left-wing while Jeff Hendrick looks to put in another goal-scoring performance from the right flank.
Sean Longstaff, Matt Ritchie, Miguel Almiron and Ryan Fraser are all expected to make up the numbers on Bruce’s bench as they wait for their opportunity to impress in the second half if needed.
Attack
Callum Wilson will lead the charge for the Magpies alongside Andy Carroll. The former will look to run in behind the last line of the Brighton defence while the latter focusses on making himself big to win some aerial headers and set-up his strike partner in and around the opponent’s penalty area.
Joelinton will be a part of the Newcastle bench and could come on to influence the game if Bruce decides to call upon his services.
