Mark Lawrenson has backed Newcastle United to pick up their second win of the season when they welcome Brighton to St James’ Park on Saturday.
The BBC pundit insisted it is important to beat the teams around you in the Premier League when at home, and the game against the Seagulls sees two sides in the bottom five clash.
Brighton managed to pick up all three points in the North East last season, with a first-half Beram Kayal strike enough to win the game 1-0.
Lawrenson insisted that the Magpies need to get back to winning ways and that this game will be the perfect time for Bruce to pick up his first three points at St James’ Park, predicting a 2-0 win for the home side.
“Steve Bruce is still waiting for his first win at St James’ Park as Newcastle manager and this will obviously be a very good time to get it,” he wrote on the BBC Sport website.
“Both of these teams are in the bottom five, and it is important to beat the teams around you, especially at home.”
OPINION
A result against Brighton on Saturday evening could be the catalyst that Newcastle need to properly kick start their campaign and rise up the Premier League table. It hasn’t exactly been an easy start to the season for the Magpies, who have already played Arsenal, Liverpool, and Tottenham. Bruce can be forgiven for not picking up maximum points in all of his games so far, but the manager needs to prove himself by picking up the victory at St James’ Park. Newcastle fans will not care how they do it just as long as they do it at this stage of the season, with the three points the most important part. Newcastle have scored in every game they’ve played since the opening day defeat to Arsenal, but Miguel Almiron is still waiting for his first goal and Joelinton has only got one – now would be the perfect time for one of their forwards to start finding the target. Brighton concede 10.6 shots on goal per game according to WhoScored and haven’t won a game since they beat Watford on the first day of the season – something Newcastle must use in their favour.
