Danny Welbeck’s first-half strike handed Brighton & Hove Albion a backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win at Newcastle United as Fabian Hurzeler’s side moved up to fifth in the Premier League.
The home team dominated proceedings from start to finish, enjoying 60 per cent possession and having 21 efforts on goal, only to fall to a sucker punch 10 minutes before half-time as Brighton caught their hosts out with a quickly taken free kick.
In the blink of an eye, Lewis Dunk’s raking long ball had found Welbeck in space and after a neat exchange of passes with Georginio Rutter, the forward burst into the box and beat Nick Pope for his fifth goal in just eight appearances this season.
However, the afternoon ended on a sour note for Welbeck and the visitors after the forward was stretchered off in agony and needing oxygen with nine minutes to go after an innocuous-looking challenge in the back by Fabian Schar.
Danny Welbeck celebrates after opening the scoring for Brighton at Newcastle
Eddie Howe, meanwhile, will be wondering just how his team failed to score as the Magpies went a fourth Premier League game without a win, although in truth as much as they huffed and puffed, the hosts largely failed to test Bart Verbruggen in the Brighton goal with the returning Alexander Isak off the pace after a month on the sidelines.
What the managers said…
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe:
“I’m really frustrated because I thought our general performance today for 65 minutes was really good.
“I think that’s the best we’ve looked, the most dominant we’ve been in a game and lo and behold, we have plenty of chances, don’t take them and concede a poor goal from our perspective from Brighton’s first real meaningful attack.
“Of course, we only have ourselves to blame for that. We need to look at that and analyse that, but the majority of the performance, especially in the early stages of the game, was very, very strong.”
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler:
“If he [Danny Welbeck] continues to behave like he does, then he can play on for a long time. We have another player who is an age of nearly 40 and he’s still there and trying to be the best every day. That’s the same for Danny.
“I knew [when I came] he had great talent and he’s a great team-mate and very supportive. He’s not only a great footballer but a great team-mate and personality.
“He has a feeling for the dynamics of the team and he tries to connect the players. That’s very important for me.
“He will have a scan and hopefully we know more later. I think he got the opponent’s knee in his back. Hopefully it’s not that bad, but we can’t be sure. Let’s wait for the result of the scans.”
