Goals were promised when the Seagulls and the Magpies engaged in a fierce avian battle at the Amex Stadium before the international break, but the Newcastle faithful were not rewarded for their gruelling journey south, as an Irish protege single-handedly put Howe’s men to the sword.
Indeed, 18-year-old Evan Ferguson added a few more pounds to his valuation by scoring a stunning hat-trick for Brighton, whose clean sheet was wiped out by an injury-time Callum Wilson strike, but the Englishman’s contribution off the bench unsurprisingly proved insignificant.
The Magpies could not have been knocked for suffering one-goal losses to title-chasing Manchester City and Liverpool in normal circumstances, but allowing the 10-man Reds to snatch all three points from the jaws of defeat was clearly a harbinger of doom, and the hosts’ 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa on the opening weekend now feels like an age ago.
Owing to their dissatisfactory start to the new term, Newcastle are languishing in 14th place in the table before they meet three European behemoths in Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan in a harsh welcome back to life in the Champions League; the Italian giants await at San Siro for their first ‘group of death’ battle next Tuesday.
Before tackling some of the continent’s big boys, Howe must seek to reverse an alarming trend which has seen Newcastle win just two of their last nine top-flight outings, while their only clean sheet in their last 15 Premier League matches came against relegated Leicester City, and the hosts have not lost four successive games in the division since the days of Steve Bruce in January 2021.
The Gtech Community Stadium faithful also witnessed a four-goal extravaganza when Brentford and Bournemouth locked horns in gameweek four, where a fine Mathias Jensen free kick broke the deadlock with just seven minutes gone before Dominic Solanke and
David Brooks silenced the London crowd.A first defeat of the season was seemingly on the menu for Thomas Frank’s crop, but with three minutes gone in second-half injury time, the ever-reliable Bryan Mbeumo raced through to steal a point for the hosts, who have taken on the role of stalemate specialists in the early stages of the season.
Links >> Stream 1 HD Stream 2 HD Stream 3 HD Stream 4 HD
While the eighth-placed visitors have now gone four games without defeat in the new term, their only win in that sequence came away to London rivals Fulham, while they were also held to a 1-1 draw by Newport County in the EFL Cup before prevailing on penalties.
Nevertheless, the Ivan Toney-less Bees continue to deliver on the offensive front and have only lost one of their last 11 Premier League contests – a 1-0 beating on Liverpool’s territory back in May – and Frank’s team are now unbeaten in seven successive top-flight games.
However, the Brentford faithful may wish to avoid casting an eye over their side’s recent results against Newcastle, whom they have failed to beat in all four Premier League meetings since earning promotion to the big time, although a Josh Dasilva strike did seal a slender EFL Cup quarter-final success in 2020-21
