IN one of his first interviews as Newcastle United head coach, Steve Bruce outlined his dream of leading the club out at a cup final. It is safe to say he did not envisage it being quite like this.

Five games into the Premier League, and Bruce is already likening Newcastle’s home game with Brighton to a ‘cup final’. Actually, he wasn’t sure whether to frame it that way or not. First, it was a cup final. Then it was ridiculous to be talking about it in such terms. Either way, the consensus was that it is a very big game.

Some supporters might bridle at the notion of a home game with Brighton being a potentially season-defining encounter, but in fairness to Bruce, his predecessor, Rafael Benitez, also identified matches such as this afternoon’s as the key to Newcastle’s season.

Winning at Tottenham was fantastic, but it was bonus, and even with those three points on board, the Magpies still find themselves in the bottom three.

Failing to win at home to Watford was damaging, and even at such an early stage of the season, there is acknowledgment that Newcastle cannot afford to pass up another opportunity to beat a side that is likely to spend the vast majority of the next eight months battling in the bottom half.

“I always knew it would be a tough start,” said Bruce, whose side follow today’s game with matches against Leicester City and Manchester United.

“I knew we had Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool in the first five, and in the first nine, we’ve got the top six. I knew it would be a difficult start, but this is a wonderful opportunity.

“If we win it, we’ll put ourselves up into mid-table and with the start we’ve had, we’ll have done okay.

“It’s the accumulation of points over the season that is important. We’ve managed to pick up a few points, but these are the big games against the teams that are going to be in and around us. These are big matches.

“The vast majority of the team have been here for a good while now, and they understand the demands and the importance of a game against Brighton. It’s probably ridiculous to talk about cup finals already, and it will be a difficult game. But we’re at home and it’s a wonderful opportunity, let’s hope we can get our first home win.”

To do that, Newcastle will have to overcome a Brighton style that are going through a radical change of style under their new boss, Graham Potter.

Having been a hard-working but relatively one-dimensional team under Chris Hughton, Potter is trying to introduce a more possession-based style, with players pressing high up the field and Brighton’s defenders encouraged to play out from their own defensive third.

Like a number of Premier League sides, Brighton have embraced the new regulation allowing defenders to receive possession in their own 18-yard box from a goal-kick – the Seagulls stand second in the rankings for the number of occasions they have played the ball short in such a scenario – and while Bruce will not be instructing his own defenders to adopt such an approach, he can see the merit in such a move.

“We’ll have to plan against it,” he said. “He (Potter) is all about possession, and if it’s in his own half, it doesn’t bother him. I still find it very difficult watching defenders playing one-twos in their own box, but hitting row Z is a thing of the past.

“As a centre-back myself, who thought he could handle the ball, it puts an enormous pressure on you. In my day, it was. ‘Get it to the midfield players because they are the ones who can play’. The new philosophy, look at Arsenal, they are making the pitch as big as possible.

“We’re not allowed in their box until the goalkeeper takes the kick, so you can’t go close to them, you have to be 12 yards away at least. We’ll have to counter that.

“I think Brighton have the fifth highest possession stats in the league. We went to Swansea last year (when Potter was manager of the Swans), and it is a totally different philosophy.

“They played four centre-backs last weekend (in a 1-1 draw with Burnley), but they were all still about possession.”