Stat Attack: All you need to know about Newcastle 2-1 Brighton

Newcastle claimed a vital 2-1 win over Brighton to move seven points clear of the drop zone at St James' Park.

The hosts were ahead after just 12 minutes when Ryan Fraser pounced after Jacob Murphy's shot had struck the woodwork.

Eddie Howe's side doubled their advantage two minutes later when Fabian Schar headed in Fraser's free-kick.

Brighton set up a nervy finish when Lewis Dunk got a goal back with a second-half header.

But the hosts were able to hold on to extend their unbeaten league run to eight games. 

Magpies manager Howe said: "We've come from a long way back and we had a lot of work to do.

"The players have committed to everything — again today physically, the shift they put in out of possession was huge, so the spirit and the resolve needed is there.

"There could have been improvements in our performance today but, at the moment, it's all about the results for us and it was another good one."

Brighton are just five points above the Magpies and manager Graham Potter was philosophical.

He said: "Performance-wise we did a lot well.

"From our perspective, it was a blow to go 2-0 down so quickly after starting the game well, the better team and then 2-0, we have to recover, which we did.

"We weren't great in the first half overall, but I thought we were probably the better team, and then second half we improved again and scored a good goal. But it wasn't to be."

Did you know?

No Premier League side is currently on a longer unbeaten run than Newcastle (eight).

The Magpies earned their first Premier League victory over Brighton at the 10th attempt.

Brighton have lost four consecutive Premier League games for just the second time.

Fraser has scored two goals in his last five top-flight appearances, as many as he had in his previous 70 games in the competition.

Eight of Dunk’s 12 top-flight goals for Brighton have been headers.