David Prutton believes the Magpies’ dramatic turnaround against Brighton will soon be forgotten.
Former midfielder David Prutton has written in his regular predictions piece for Sky Sports that Newcastle United will be brought back down to Earth with a bump by Huddersfield Town this weekend.
The Magpies moved back to the top of the Championship thanks to two goals in the last 10 minutes, as Ayoze Perez’s 89th-minute winner sealed a 2-1 victory over main rivals Brighton & Hove Albion on Tuesday.
That victory saw them leapfrog the Seagulls back into top spot with 12 games of the season remaining, putting them in pole position to secure automatic promotion as champions.
Rafa Benitez’s side come up against another promotion hopeful in Huddersfield on Saturday evening, with the Terriers eight points back in third.
Newcastle will likely be favourites to win, but with Huddersfield having lost just one of their last 15 Championship matches, Prutton thinks a surprise result could be on the cards.
The ex-midfielder wrote for Sky Sports: “Newcastle will have been buoyed by the result at Brighton, but Huddersfield have shown they can go up against the top teams in the division and win. They’ve shown the kind of team they are lately, and if they hadn’t had that dip they’d be right up there with the top two.
“They got flattened at Manchester City, but those were world-class players and there’s no disgrace in that. We’ll probably see a whole host of changes again and I fancy them against Newcastle.
“Prutton predicts: 2-1 with Nahki Wells first goalscorer.”
Benitez and Newcastle will be desperate to prove that prediction wrong and cement their hold on one of the two automatic promotion spots.
With Brighton travelling to Nottingham Forest earlier on Saturday afternoon, they could have the chance to pull further clear at the top too if Chris Hughton’s side cannot secure victory in the East Midlands.
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