Read Eddie Howe's pre-match message as Brighton arrive at St. James' Park

Read Eddie Howe's pre-match message as Brighton arrive at St. James' Park

Matches against Brighton in recent seasons have always been closely fought, and we expect no less today against a team who have performed consistently well this season.

Our last home match against Bournemouth wasn’t the performance or the result we wanted, and despite another goal from Will Osula, we conceded twice and didn’t hit the standards we’ve consistently shown for so many years at home. So, heading into the next game, a trip to The Emirates against Arsenal, we knew we needed to respond in the right way despite the size of the challenge against a team fighting for the title.

We believe in our squad and made some changes to freshen things up and challenged the players to give a performance which better reflected the team we know we can be. I thought we started extremely well and showed our intent in the very first minute when we created a chance for Will.

We competed well in the first half, despite conceding a goal which we felt was out of context with the game. After half time, we stayed in the game, continued to create a series of chances, and when Arsenal posed us problems at the other end, I felt we defended incredibly well as a team. Importantly, we never gave up and had opportunities late in the game which on another day would have given us the outcome we felt we deserved.

There is no getting away from the fact we are in a difficult moment, and we will never make excuses or shy away from that. We also have another twelve points to fight for, and that will be our sole focus. When things don’t go our way, we need to double down on the principles which have brought us so much success in recent years. Hard work and a great attitude towards improvement every day on the training ground, and a spirit and togetherness which is the hallmark of a Newcastle United side.