Welbeck on hand to punish wasteful Newcastle

BITTERSWEET: Brighton and Hove Albion's Danny Welbeck celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game. Pic: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Premier League: Newcastle 0 Brighton 1 

DANNY Welbeck punished Newcastle's wastefulness in front of goal as Brighton continued their impressive start to the season.

Eddie Howe's side have failed to score from open play in the Premier League for more than five hours as they suffered a first defeat at St James' Park in 12 league games.

Welbeck's sixth goal in his last 10 Premier League appearances proved bittersweet as the experienced forward was carried off with a back injury 10 minutes from time after needing gas and air following an innocuous-looking coming together with defender Fabian Schar.

Newcastle only had themselves to blame for a fruitless afternoon as they spurned a string of chances to find the net - 20 shots on goal without reward tells its own sorry story. 

Alexander Isak should have helped himself to a hat-trick before Welbeck scored with Brighton's first shot of the contest 10 minutes before the break to push the South Coast club up to fifth.

Brighton and Hove Albion's Danny Welbeck is stretchered off. Pic: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Swedish striker Isak, back in the side after a month out with a broken toe, produced an air-shot inside the six-yard box with the goal at his mercy before having a close-range shot was inadvertently blocked by team-mate Jacob Murphy as Newcastle dominated from the start.

It seemed only a matter of time before Howe's side would turn their superiority into something tangible, and Isak was again culpable when put through by an astute Bruno Guimaraes pass but was unable to find a way past a fine block by keeper Bart Verbruggen.

The uncharacteristic misses proved costly as from a Lewis Dunk free-kick, Welbeck swapped passes with Georginio Rutter before comfortably holding off a weak challenge from Newcastle full-back Tino Livramento to slot the winner past Nick Pope.

It took a fine Verbruggen save to prevent Anthony Gordon's long-range curling effort from finding the top corner. 

The winger should have levelled when he somehow headed over from an Isak cross as Newcastle's profligacy continued into the second-half.

After Gordon wasted another chance by firing straight at Verbruggen, Ferdi Kadioglu and substitute Kaoru Mitoma both had late opportunities to double Brighton's advantage but ultimately it didn't matter as Newcastle were made to pay for their increasingly costly failures in front of goal.

Newcastle (4-3-3): Pope 6; Livramento 5, Schar 5, Burn 6, Hall 6 (Osula 90, 6); Tonali 6 (Willock 65, 5), Guimaraes 6 (Almiron 85, 5), Joelinton 5; Murphy 5 (Barnes 65, 5 ), Isak 5, Gordon 6 (Longstaff 85, 6). Booked: Burn, Hall.

Brighton (4-4-2): Verbruggen 8; Veltman 7, Dunk 7, Julio 7, Kadioglu 7; Rutter 6 (Estupinan 71, 7), Baleba 6 (Wieffer 72, 6), Hinshelwood 7, Ayari 6 (Enciso 82, 6); Welbeck 8 (van Hecke 81, 7), Ferguson 5 (Mitoma 60, 7). Booked: Ayari, Hinshelwood.

Referee: Peter Bankes