Referee who was suckered into handing Newcastle United star red card and three match ban announced as official for Brighton clash

Newcastle United travel to Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday for a 2 pm kick-off live on Sky Sports.

The Seagulls have fallen away from the chase for Champions League football but will still pose a significant threat to Newcastle, having beaten them twice already this season in the league and FA Cup.

It has been two years since Newcastle beat Brighton. In May 2023 Newcastle beat the Seagulls 4-1 at St James' Park, but this time the May fixture is reversed. Hopefully, the scoreline won't be.

Newcastle need to keep picking up points in the last four games as the race for Champions League football is far too tight to call, and every point, every goal matters.

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Newcastle will come up against referee Craig Pawson again on Sunday

If things weren't already tricky enough for the Magpies, the PGMOL have announced that Craig Pawson will be the man in the middle on Sunday.

We have an axe to grind with Mr Pawson, which dates back to the opening game of the season when Ben Brereton-Diaz disgracefully bought a red card for Fabian Schar after a Robert De Niro-esque performance as Schar moved his head closer towards Brereton-Diaz, who went down like he'd been shot.

The slight movement by Fabian Schar was enough for VAR to stick with the on-field decision, and the red card and subsequent three-game ban stood.

Surely Craig Pawson can't be as bad as Michael Salisbury

Craig Pawson also refereed Newcastle's meeting with Everton, in which he awarded the Magpies a penalty which was duly missed by former Toffee Anthony Gordon. Pawson also waved away strong appeals for an Everton penalty.

While Newcastle did benefit from his poor decision-making on that occasion, it does suggest that Sunday's game is unlikely to be drama-free.

After the shocking display by Michael Salisbury on Saturday, we're confident that Craig Pawson can't do much worse. However, we won't hold our breath.