Brighton loss should set alarm bells ringing for Benitez and Newcastle

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For all the off-field unrest and tumult at Newcastle, some of their early-season struggles could be attributed to a horrible early run of fixtures.

Rafa Benitez’s side have already played five of last season’s top six – his former club Liverpool being the exception – and not disgraced themselves against any of them.

The Magpies have scored in each of the five games and only lost by a single goal each time. There was an argument that the club’s fortunes would improve when the standard of opposition went down.

After all, they say it’s the games around the teams around you that will decide a struggling side’s fate. That’s why Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Brighton is Newcastle’s worst Premier League result of the season so far.

In their current predicament, Newcastle have to get something from those sorts of matches. Losing at home to sides who will more than likely be in the bottom half come the end of the season is far more concerning than being narrowly beaten out by elite, free-spending teams.

That gives Benitez a new headache. He may well have hoped that his side’s form would be reflective of the standard of their opposition, but that has not been the case so far.

That should set alarm bells ringing afresh on Tyneside.