A winless Newcastle side make the 350-mile journey to Brighton this weekend desperately in search of points in their bid for Premier League survival.
Or, failing that, in search of a Mo Diame-style stroke of luck.
Under caretaker boss Graeme Jones, United were battered 3-0 at St James’ Park by Chelsea last Saturday, leaving them a grim 19th in the table and six points adrift from safety.
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And their next task is to take on a team who became fierce rivals in the 2016-17 season in a toe-to-toe Championship title race which, dramatically, the Magpies won.
Brighton have since exacted some revenge, no more so than in thumping Steve Bruce’s Newcastle 3-0 twice last season.
But that moment of bizarre magic from Diame is at least one memory to savour as ChronicleLive looks ahead to this weekend’s clash by reliving the Magpies’ previous five visits to the South Coast.
Brighton 3-0 Newcastle - March 21, 2021
Goals from Leandro Trossard, Danny Welbeck and Neal Maupay plunged Newcastle further into a relegation battle as calls for Steve Bruce’s head intensified.
Toon winger Ryan Fraser said afterwards that the mood around the club was “the lowest it has been” and called upon his teammates to “save our season”, with just nine matches remaining.
Newcastle’s fortunes did change after this result, but many feel this was the game that caused Bruce to lose the fans’ faith completely.
Brighton 0-0 Newcastle - July 20, 2020
A lockdown dead rubber between a couple of sides who had nothing much to play for with just two games remaining of the pandemic-struck season.
Brighton mathematically secured survival with a point, but the game will be best remembered for Andy Carroll’s horror miss in the dying embers that should have snatched a victory for the Magpies.
A fixture to forget.
Brighton 1-1 Newcastle - April 27, 2019
The Seagulls broke a club record of 11 hours 30 mins without scoring to snatch a point at the Amex against Rafa Benitez’s United.
Pascal Gross cancelled out Ayoze Perez’s opener late on, as Brighton crawled towards top flight safety for the second consecutive season.
But it could have been worse for Newcastle at the death, as veteran striker Glenn Murray emulated Carroll in missing a huge chance to secure all three points.
Brighton 1-2 Newcastle - February 28, 2017
A dramatic night saw Newcastle complete a late turnaround against their league rivals and storm to the top of the Championship table.
First place met second at the Amex and the hosts took the lead through a Glenn Murray penalty on 14 minutes.
Enter Diame.
The Senegal midfielder somehow managed to fluke an equaliser nine minutes from time when the ball ricocheted off his boot and looped over the hapless David Stockdale.
Ayoze Perez completed the comeback in the 89th minute to send the away end into raptures and put Newcastle in pole position for promotion.
Brighton 2-0 Newcastle - January 5, 2013
Brighton caused a cup upset when they took on higher-league opposition in the FA Cup third round.
Alan Pardew took a weakened Newcastle side to the South Coast that was still reeling from the sale of star striker Demba Ba - and it showed.
Andrea Orlandi and Will Hoskins grabbed the goals but a toothless Toon performance was marred even further when Shola Ameobi was sent off for a second yellow card.
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