Following on from our home win over Southampton and Liverpool's win over Cardiff the following day, Newcastle will be definitely playing Premier League football next season.
After a difficult campaign, especially at the start, and it is an incredible achievement for the squad to have secured safety. Not forgetting that a good proportion of the current squad helped the club achieve promotion back to the Premier League two years ago.
Brighton, however, are in a situation where they cannot rest. With three games remaining, the Seagulls are only three points off 18th placed Cardiff. Brighton's difficult run in consisting of matches against Arsenal and Man City mean that their fans have cause for concern. Cardiff however have winnable matches against Fulham and Crystal Palace. Two years ago, the Welsh club's rivals, Swansea looked like relegation certainty's but were rescued by positive results engineered by Paul Clement.
Moving on to Saturday's match, the past encounters between Brighton and Newcastle have usually been evenly matched. In the past, Brighton have arguably had the advantage when they have been the home team as Newcastle have only managed to muster up one win (February 2017) in the last six visits to Brighton, dating back to January 1991 when the Seagulls were playing at the Goldstone Ground.
Elsewhere outside of the Premier League, the Championship might confirm two promotions this weekend. The race for automatic promotion has been a three-horse race for a long while between Leeds, Norwich and Sheffield United. Norwich will be promoted if they fail to lose at home to Blackburn in the late evening kick-off. Sheffield United might be promoted on Sunday. The Blades, who play on Saturday, will need to better Leeds' result and they play at home to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Facts and Figures
All Competitions
Brighton wins: 10
Newcastle wins: 9
Draws: 4
League
Newcastle wins: 8
Brighton wins: 6
Draws: 3
League at Brighton
Newcastle wins: 4
Brighton wins: 3
Draws: 2
Previous ten (all competitions)
Brighton wins: 5 (9 goals)
Draws: 3
Newcastle wins: 2 (6 goals)
Biggest win: Brighton 0 - 4 Newcastle United (10/03/1962)
Biggest defeat: Brighton 4 - 2 Newcastle United (16/01/1991)
Biggest aggregate win: Newcastle United 9 - 0 Brighton (5-0 and 4-0: 1961/62 season)
Biggest aggregate defeat: Newcastle United 1 - 5 Brighton (0-2 and 1-3: 1978/79 season).
Memory Lane
Brighton 1 - 2 Newcastle United - 28/02/2017 (Championship)
Karl Darlow: The goalkeeper kept Newcastle in the game throughout the match by making several great saves to deny Sam Baldock, Anthony Knockaert and a volley from Glenn Murray. Darlow could not be blamed for being unable to keep his clean sheet in-tact after Murray gave Brighton the lead from the penalty spot just 14 minutes in.
DeAndre Yedlin:
Jamaal Lascelles:
Ciaran Clark: A dubious penalty was awarded in the first half by referee, Robert Madley. Clark was judged to have been tussling with Murray in the box as the Seagulls had a corner although it seemed that Murray was doing more of the tussling on Clark.
Paul Dummett:
Matt Ritchie:
Mohamed Diame: With Brighton still in control of the game, the Magpies were given a corner and a rare chance to create something meaningful. Stockdale punched away the corner only far as Christian Atsu who miscued his volley, at that point, Brighton fans were heard giving ironic cheers however their joy was short-lived after the equaliser came with a freaky goal that would never happen if it was attempted.
Jonjo Shelvey:
Christian Atsu: Right on the stroke of half time, the Ghanaian winger could and should have equalised; he latched onto DeAndre Yedlin's low cross, only to strike the ball straight at goalkeeper, David Stockdale. It was Atsu's skewed volley that was deflected by substitute, Daryl Murphy and clipped the heel of Mohamed Diame to equalise. The loanee was not finished there. A magical long ball from Matt Ritchie found Atsu on the left wing and he set up Perez for the winning goal and a crucial three points in the run for promotion.
Jack Colback:
Yoan Gouffran: The Frenchman endured a difficult evening on his own up front. With Newcastle losing for most of the game, there was a lot of reliance on Gouffran to produce promising moves but he just could not deliver on the night. After Diame's equaliser, Ayoze Perez came on to replace the striker and was in the more familiar role of playing in behind the main striker, Daryl Murphy who came off the bench just minutes beforehand. Perez had only been on the pitch for seven minutes when Atsu picked him out and he slotted the ball low into the corner to give Newcastle a late lead to send the travelling Newcastle fans back home happy on the 345-mile long journey back.