The unlikely hero that secured Newcastle United their last away win against Brighton in 2017

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History is against Newcastle United when they face Brighton And Hove Albion on Sunday.

The Magpies have been beaten twice by Brighton already this season, losing in the Premier League and the FA Cup.

Both of those games were at St James’ Park, but now Eddie Howe’s side travel to the Amex Stadium.

Newcastle United’s record there is terrible. Since the Seagulls started playing at the Amex Stadium, the Magpies have only won one game.

That was in the Championship in 2017.

Newcastle United scored the flukiest goal ever vs Brighton

At the time, Newcastle and Brighton were battling it out at the top of the table to secure promotion to the Premier League.

It had looked like Chris Hughton’s side were going to beat Rafa Benitez and co, with Brighton leading 1-0 going into the final 10 minutes.

However, goals from Mo Diame and Ayoze Perez turned the game on its head and handed Newcastle United a crucial three points.

Newcastle snatched victory away from Brighton, and they did it by scoring arguably the flukiest goal ever.

Diame made it 1-1 in the 81st minute, but knew nothing about it.

Christian Atsu skewed a volley into the path of Daryl Murphy, who could only get a glancing touch on it. The ball then bounced off Diame’s heel and high into the Brighton net.

On his goal, Diame said: “I saw Atsu taking the volley and was looking to go to the second ball. He shoots and the ball comes to me. I just tried to touch it. I got lucky.”

Newcastle United only have one player left from the team that beat Brighton

It has been eight years since Newcastle United won at the Amex.

They will aim to change that on Sunday, and there is only one Toon player from that squad who is still at St James’ Park.

That is Jamaal Lascelles, who started at centre-back during the 2-1 win in 2017.

Unfortunately for Lascelles, he will not be involved this weekend. He remains out of action after suffering an ACL injury in March 2024.

The 31-year-old has not played for Newcastle United for more than 12 months now, but is hoping to feature at least once before the 2024/25 season comes to an end.

Lascelles has trained on the grass with his Newcastle teammates this week, but Sunday’s trip to Brighton will come too soon for him to make his comeback.