Football, eh? In the latest example of not a great deal separating sixth from sixth bottom, out-of-sorts Newcastle United beat in-form Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.
Here are our Scout Notes from St James’ Park.
HOWE PICKING ON MERIT AS £5.4M OSULA DELIVERS AGAIN
Newcastle had somewhere in the region of £300m-worth of players on the bench on Saturday.
Anthony Gordon (£7.3m), returning from a hip injury and unused, was among the substitutes. So too were Nick Woltemade (£6.7m) and Yoane Wissa (£7.3m), the big-money forwards signed last summer.
Instead, Eddie Howe went with, in his words, players he “can really trust”. The old Benitez/Bruce-era guard, like Joe Willock (£5.0m) and Jacob Murphy (£5.9m), were again preferred to positional rivals who were meant to be upgrades when signed. It was mostly the side Howe sent out for a creditable display at Arsenal, the one change seeing another seasoned performer, Joelinton (£5.9m), replace Jacob Ramsey (£5.3m) on the left wing.
Nothing says ‘picking on merit’ more than fourth-choice striker (usually behind Gordon, Woltemade and Wissa) Will Osula (£5.4m) getting a chance.
The young forward has started the last four league matches, scoring in three of them.
Above: Will Osula’s four starts in a row; he’s had at least one Opta-defined ‘big chance’ in each of them
Osula was impressive in the first half here, opening the scoring with a header and stretching Brighton.
The gauntlet has well and truly been thrown down to the big-money players.
“I went with players that I can really trust, that I know can handle this kind of atmosphere and this kind of pressure. But I’m not picking the team based on emotion. I’m picking the team based on what I think gives us the best chance of winning the game. Those players have never let me down and they didn’t today.” – Eddie Howe
“I’ve said many times, I don’t pick the team based on transfer fees. I pick the team based on training session performances. The last game, we got quite a lot of information that we can use to try and pick. And, of course, our opponent plays a part in that, who you think is suited to playing against this opponent.
“I thought Wills [Osula] deserved to stay in the team, he scored two goals in three games before this one. That’s three in four now, a really healthy return. Not only that, he’s got real pace, and defenders don’t like to play against that. I thought he was really good in the first half, with Joe Willock, I thought they both played really well.” – Eddie Howe
BURN OVER HALL AT LEFT-BACK AGAIN
Part of Howe’s hard reset is Dan Burn (£5.0m) starting over Lewis Hall (£5.3m) at left-back. Hall might be off to the World Cup in the summer, and he’s been superb for much of 2025/26.
But after being hooked at half-time in Gameweek 33, he’s warmed the bench since. Arsenal’s set-play strengths were cited as one reason why Burn got the nod last weekend, but an improved defensive display at the Emirates persuaded Howe to leave things unchanged at the back.
Burn was solid again and even popped up with a set-piece goal, so Hall won’t be overly confident of reclaiming his place.
Howe did, at least, praise Hall for his efforts off the bench. One second-half charge from him set up a great opportunity for Wissa.
“I think our set plays have been hit to a degree by the fact that we’ve had a smaller team for the majority of the year, and of course, playing Dan at left-back gives us an extra header in the team with Malick and Sven. Joelinton’s return was another good physical lift for us.
“Delighted to see Dan score, but also delighted to see the impact of Lewis Hall coming off the bench, and Harvey Barnes coming off the bench, and Yoane Wissa coming off the bench and all doing well. So, it’s good for the squad.” – Eddie Howe
BRUNO BOUNCE
Don’t underestimate the influence of Bruno Guimaraes (£6.8m), either. It was no coincidence that Newcastle looked better at the Emirates with the Brazilian back in the XI after a two-month absence.
He supplied the corner that Burn nodded in and picked up a bonus point, improving his already excellent points-per-start average:
A whopping 14 of Bruno’s 16 returns have come at home, however, and Newcastle have only one such fixture left.
POSITIVES TO TAKE FOR BRIGHTON
Some praise is due for Newcastle, then, and there definitely has been a modest improvement over the last two Gameweeks. The Magpies were particularly impressive on the break today, while they were a threat on set plays, too. Malick Thiaw (£5.0m) had a huge chance from one dead-ball situation.
But – we could easily be sitting here talking about a 10th defeat in 13 Premier League games for Howe’s side.
This match could have swung either way, with the Seagulls the better team in the opening exchanges before a Bert Verbruggen (£4.5m) error gave Newcastle an unmerited lead.
Jack Hinshelwood (£5.1m), in his own words, “could have had a hat-trick today”. A huge early chance for the midfielder was saved by Nick Pope (£5.0m), who later cannoned a clearance off Hinshelwood and onto the post. Carlos Baleba (£4.5m) also hit the woodwork, Charalampos Kostoulas (£4.8m) drew another smart stop out of Pope with a bicycle kick, while Yankuba Minteh (£5.5m) missed a back-post sitter to level the game at 2-2. Shortly after, Newcastle scored a breakaway third through substitute Harvey Barnes (£6.1m).
“I think we were the better team, we created a lot of chances, we dominated the ball.
“We have to take the positive things, we have to analyse it, we have to understand what we have to do better – especially regarding defensive transitions. But overall, we have to stay positive.” – Fabian Hurzeler
No reason to fret if you own Brighton players, then, with some rare individual errors from Verbruggen and Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.6m) accounting for two of the goals conceded. A combination of bad luck, profligate finishing and Pope saves denied them at the other end.
Brighton’s goal was a thing of beauty, indeed, with some lovely interplay from Pascal Gross (£5.5m), Danny Welbeck (£6.3m) and the dangerous Hinshelwood, ending with the latter’s finish.
Above: Jack Hinshelwood again picked up some advanced positions
Remember: it’s Wolverhampton Wanderers at home next…
WIEFFER INJURY
Brighton lost Mats Wieffer (£4.8m) to an injury in the first half.
The Dutchman’s ankle has been giving him bother lately, and forced him off against Chelsea last time out. The problem reared its head again on Saturday.
“Yeah, it’s his ankle. We have to see. It doesn’t look great but I can’t say anything because we have to wait for the scan.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Mats Wieffer
