Graham Potter's 'honest' admission highlights Eddie Howe's Newcastle United transformation

Brighton boss Graham Potter said he was "stunned" by Newcastle United as two quickfire goals from Ryan Fraser and Fabian Schar put the Magpies firmly in control.

The visitors dominated possession throughout the 90 minutes at St James' Park and Lewis Dunk's goal early in the second half proved to be nothing but a consolation goal for Potter's side.

It means the Magpies have now won five of their last six Premier League matches and are slowly forming a buffer between themselves and the relegation zone; seven points now separates them from 18th-placed Burnley.

The fine winning run of form is a stark contrast to the form that preceded Howe's arrival and a far cry from the 10-game winless run that the Magpies were enduring when they drew 1-1 with Brighton back in November 2021.

Brighton have proved to be somewhat of a bogey side for Newcastle United but Saturday's 2-1 win secured the Magpies a first-ever Premier League win over the Seagulls after ten attempts.

And Potter was bursting with praise for Howe and the rejuvenation he has led at St James' Park, saying: "Newcastle defended with a lot of players and with a lot of organisation so credit to Eddie and his guys.

"The home crowd can be a huge positive influence on the players but they can also be a negative one. If I’m being honest, that was probably the situation before and we obviously had lockdown as well.

"Credit to [Newcastle] they are in a good moment with good momentum and have some good players. It’s not easy at the minute."

Turning to the game more generally, Potter admitted: "I was stunned that we were 2-0 down in the game. It was a poor goal from our perspective but a good one from Newcastle's perspective on the break and then in the mayhem of that they score