Ferguson's Hatrick leads Albion to a 3-1
victory over Newcastle.
A L B I O N R E P O R T - ( iv )
2 SEPTEMBER 2023 -
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION 3 ( Evan Ferguson 3)
NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 ( Callum Wilson ) -
PREMIER LEAGUE - at the
AMERICAN EXPRESS COMMUNITY STADIUM, FALMER.
Looking to get back to winning ways, the Albion welcomed Newcastle United to the Amex for a Premier League clash, "live" in front of the Sky Sports cameras, the game also being covered by BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Sussex Sport.
In their previous Premier League game, the Albion lost 1-3 at home to West Ham United on the 26 August and for the visit of Newcastle Head Coach Roberto De Zerbi made three changes to his Albion starting line-up from the West Ham game, with Joel Veltman, Jan Paul Van Hecke and Joao Pedro coming in for James Milner, Adam Webster and Danny Welbeck (injured). Milner and Webster dropped down to the substitutes bench where they were, inter alia, joined by the fit-again Tariq Lamptey.
Newcastle opened their Premier League campaign with an excellent 5-1 home win over Aston Villa on the 12 August but thereafter followed up with two losses, 0-1 away to Manchester City on the 19 August and 1-2 at home to Liverpool on the 27 August.
For their visit to the Amex, Manager Eddie Howe had to make one enforced change to his starting line-up from the Liverpool game, with Matt Targett replacing the injured Sven Botman at the back.
In their two meetings in season 2022-2023, it was 0-0 at the Amex on the 13 August 2022 and 4-1 to Newcastle at St. James' Park on the 18 May 2023. The Albion's line-up at the Amex on the 13 August 2022 was (3-4-2-1):- Robert Sanchez; Joel Veltman, Lewis Dunk (Capt), Adam Webster; Solly March (Kaoru Mitoma 75), Alexis Mac Allister, Moises Caicedo, Leandro Trossard (Tariq Lamptey 75); Pascal Gross, Adam Lallana (Enock Mwepu 65); Danny Welbeck.
Subs not used: Jason Steele(G/K), Levi Colwill, Steven Alzate, Jan Paul Van Hecke, Jeremy Sarmiento, Deniz Undav.
Players in Italics, no longer with the club
Prior to kick-off an already boisterous Amex crowd gave a rousing welcome to two new Albion players who had joined the Seagulls just prior to the close of the summer transfer window, namely midfielder Carlos Baleba (19) from Ligue 1 side Lille and forward Ansu Fati (20) from Lal Liga FC Barcelona on a season-long loan.
The Magpies started the brighter of the two teams and early on striker Alexander Isak failed to convert a couple of opportunities which came his way. ~
Next, it was Solly March who forced Newcastle keeper Nick Pope into action with a reflex save from a close-range blast, Joao Pedro headed wide from a Pascal Gross cross and then Pope saved an Evan Ferguson effort. Bart Verbruggen in the Albion goal then made a fine save from a shot which had taken a wicked deflection off Lewis Dunk.
The Seagulls took the lead on 27 minutes when Pope failed to hold on to Billy Gilmour's piledriver of a shot from distance and there was the alert Ferguson to tuck home a right-foot shot from close-in. 1-0.
The visitors responded quickly but Joe Linton shot wide when well-placed. On the balance of play, the Albion deserved to be ahead at the break.
Half-time 1-0.
The Albion started the second-half on the offensive, with Brazilian Pedro particularly prominent but it was the 18 year-old Irishman Ferguson who turned the game on its' head with two goals in the space of five minutes.
On 65 minutes the impressive Gilmour found Ferguson in space some 20 yards out and the young striker calmly sent a curled right-foot shot past keeper Pope for his and Albion's second. 2-0.
Five minutes later Ferguson was at it again, this time sending a left-foot shot in from the edge of the area, taking a slight deflection before ending up in the back of the Newcastle net. A superb hat-trick for Ferguson. 3-0.
The Magpies scored a consolation goal in time added on when substitute Callum Wilson got on the end of a through ball to slot the ball past exposed Albion keeper Verbruggen. 3-1.
The day belonged to young Evan Ferguson, who has the football world at his feet.
Final-score 3-1.
Match stats:
Albion had 15 attempts at goal, with 6 on target and won 5 corners, free-kicks conceded - 14.
Newcastle had 9 attempts at goal, with 2 on target and won 3 corners, free-kicks conceded - 17.
VERDICT - Evan Ferguson 3 goals Newcastle United 1. The 18 year-old Irish striker wrote himself into Albion folklore with a superb hat-trick against the Magpies.
So many complimentary words were written and spoken about Ferguson over the weekend and all thoroughly deserved. An excellent team performance by the Albion players after the West Ham reverse the previous week. It was also good to see Tariq Lamptey back in action, following his long injury lay-off. Albion finished the round 4 games in 6th spot in the Premier
Albion line-up (4-2-3-1):- Bart Verbruggen; Joel Veltman, Jan Paul Van Hecke, Lewis Dunk (Capt), Pervis Estupinan; Pascal Gross (Simon Adringa 89), Billy Gilmour (Mahmoud Dahoud 77); Solly March (Adam Lallana 81), Joao Pedro (Tariq Lamptey 77), Kaoru Mitoma; Evan Ferguson (James Milner 81).
Subs not used: Jason Steele (G/K), Igor Julio, Adam Webster, Facundo Buonanotte.
Newcastle United line-up (4-3-3):- Nick Pope; Kieran Trippier (Capt), Fabian Schar, Dan Burn, Matt Targett (Jamaal Lascelles 74); Sandro Tonali (Sean Longstaff 58), Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton (Callum Wilson 58); Miguel Almiron (Elliot Anderson 58), Alexander Isak (Harvey Barnes 74), Anthony Gordon.
Subs not used: Martin Dubravka (G/K), Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento, Jacob Murphy.
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire). Assistant Referees: Constantine Hatzidakis, James Mainwaring. Fourth Official: Craig Pawson.
VAR Official: Darren Bond. Assistant VAR Official: Ian Hussin.
Yellow Cards:
Albion: 4 - Mahmoud Dahoud, Adam Lallana, Tariq Lamptey, James Milner.
Newcastle United: 4 - Fabian Schar, Dan Burn, Matt Targett, Anthony Gordon.
Possession: Albion - 56%. Newcastle United - 44%.
BBC Sport Player of the Match: Evan Ferguson (Albion).
Attendance: 31620.
NEXT GAME:
16 SEPTEMBER 2023 - MANCHESTER UNITED - away - Premier League - kick-off 15.00.
ALBION 4-YEAR FLASHBACK -
27 APRIL 2019 - PREMIER LEAGUE -
AMEX - ALBION 1 (Pascal Gross 1 - 75 minutes) NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 (Ayoze Perez 1 - 18 minutes).
Albion line-up (4-4-2):- Mathew Ryan; Bruno Saltor (Capt), Shane Duffy, Lewis Dunk, Bernardo; Pascal Gross, Dale Stephens, Beram Kayal (Yves Bissouma 49), Jose Izquierdo (Anthony Knockaert 66); Florin Andone (Solly March 46), Glenn Murray.
Subs not used: David Button (G/K), Gaetan Bong, Dan Burn, Jurgen Locadia.
Manager: Chris Hughton.
Newcastle United line-up (5-4-1):- Martin Dubravka; Javier Manquillo, Fabian Schar, Federico Fernandez, Paul Dummett, Matt Ritchie; Ayoze Perez (Kenedy 33), Jonjo Shelvey (Capt) (Sung-yueng Ki 73), Isaac Hayden, Christian Atsu (Yashinori Muto 81); Salomon Rondon.
Subs not used: Karl Darlow (G/K), Mohamed Diame, DeAndre Yedlin, Antonio Barreca.
Manager: Rafa Benitez.
Attendance: 30587.
Jack Kaye.
7 September 2023.