Paul Merson has predicted Newcastle United to beat Brighton on Saturday when they face each other in the Premier League.
The Magpies host Brighton at St James’ Park for a weekend clash and will be looking to put some distance between them and the relegation zone.
Rafael Benitez’s side are 15th-place in the league and just a point above the bottom three going into the weekend.
They face a Brighton side that are 12th in the table and they were both promoted from the Championship together last season.
Sky Sports pundit Merson has tipped Newcastle to runout 2-1 winners over the Seagulls and ease relegation fears at the North East club.
“I think Newcastle’s home advantage will tell here,” Merson wrote in his column for Sky Sports.
“They were negative against City for 60 minutes but it will be completely and utterly different on Saturday. They didn’t need the Man City game, and could have done with playing Brighton first!”
OPINION
This is a huge fixture for Newcastle at home and they need three points given their poor recent form, with an away win against West Ham their only shinning light in December. They have a real opportunity during a busy fixture period to steer away from the bottom three as the Brighton clash is followed by games against Stoke and Swansea. However, fail in those games and they could find themselves facing a serious battle against relegation in the second half of the season. Newcastle were understandably on the back foot against league leaders Man City in midweek, but need to be attack-minded against a Brighton side they should really be able to get at.