Newcastle United are heading into their penultimate league match of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion at the American Express Community Stadium. The Magpies are standing at 13th position in the league table, and a win against Brighton would take them to 46 points. Steve Bruce would want to finish the season on a high amid all the dilemma regarding their proposed takeover.
They are coming into this match on the back of a home defeat against Spurs and would want to turn the fortunes for themselves. Brighton on their end drew the game against Southampton in their last encounter and would thus love to get three points to get in a safer position in the relegation fight.
Predicted 4-4-1-1 Newcastle United lineup against Brighton
Defence
The biggest news for Steve Bruce against Brighton is that Danny Rose is back for this encounter. The left-back could not take part in the match against Spurs due to a clause in his loan contract, and thus we expect him to be positioned in his usual role. Otherwise, the manager is riddled with injury problems in his defence with several stars including Schar and Lascelles being unavailable for this game.
In their absence, we expect Fernandez and Watts to form the centre-back pairing. In the last match, Krafth started as the right-back, and there were no occasions to complain. Therefore we expect him to be in the starting lineup again ahead of Manquillo. Dubravka took up his usual position at the goal and with just two matches to go in the league, the manager would want him to man the goalkeeping slot for the side.
Midfield
Isaac Hayden, Sean Longstaff and Saint-Maximin are all expected to remain out of this fixture with injuries, and therefore the manager would not be spoilt for choices at the centre of the pitch. Jonjo Shelvey, Matty Longstaff, Nabil Bentaleb and Matt Ritchie are all expected to form the midfield four of the side. The gaffer has to depend on the creative output of Shelvey to unlock the Brighton defence while Richie would be high on confidence after scoring the solitary goal for the side against Spurs.
Forward
Dwight Gayle and Miguel Almiron would be the two forwards for Newcastle against the Seagulls. Carroll has suffered a knock and would, therefore, be uncertain for this game, while Joelinton would be on the bench to make a mark if required.
