Away days: Brighton & Hove Albion

Club: Brighton & Hove Albion

Stadium: The Amex Stadium

Capacity: 30,750

Distance from St. James’ Park: 345 miles

Previous Premier League visits: 0

After last season’s battle for the Sky Bet Championship title went right down to the wire, the two automatically promoted sides will face each other for the first time in the Premier League on Saturday, 23rd September, with Seagulls boss Chris Hughton once again coming up against his old club.

Last term’s trip to the Amex at the end of February resulted in a 2-1 win for Newcastle, courtesy of a bizarre goal from Mohamed Diame and a late winner from Ayoze Perez in front of just under 2,700 fans who had made the long journey south for the midweek clash. Earlier in the season, Rafa Benitez’s men had triumphed too, winning 2-0 at St. James’ Park – a result sealed by a fine Jonjo Shelvey free kick.

United went on to lift the Championship trophy, pipping the Seagulls on the final day of the season and historically, the Magpies have had the upper hand in previous encounters, winning nine and drawing three of the 20 meetings between the two sides over the years.

As far as previous away days at Brighton go, the honours are even; this coming season’s trip to the south coast will be just the 11^th, with both sides having won four apiece, with two draws from the ten previous visits. The first game between the two sides at Brighton came in 1962, when Newcastle won 4-0 in a Division Two clash at the Goldstone Ground, with further wins in the same division coming in 1983 and 1989.

Aside from that vital victory for Benitez’s side in February 2017, there have been two previous encounters at the Amex, where the Seagulls moved to from the Withdean Stadium. In 2012 and 2013, Brighton emerged victorious in two FA Cup ties against Newcastle in two FA Cup ties at their impressive 30,000-seater stadium.