It is their longest trip of the season but Albion must feel at home in the far North East.

They have now won more games than they have lost at Newcastle down the years.

Today’s success levelled the series at St James’ Park in the league with four victories apiece out of 11 meetings.

But the Seagulls have won on two of their three visits in the FA Cup.

That gives them a total of six wins and five defeats on 14 trips to Tyneside.

Newcastle still lead on goals – by 13-9 in the league only and 16-12 in league and cup.

This was the first time Albion have beaten them by a three-goal margin, home or away.

They famously went 3-0 up in 1979 before winning 3-1 to secure promotion to the old First Division.

How Albion players rated against Newcastle

Albion have now kept four successive clean sheets at St James’ Park since the two teams were promoted to the Premier League together in 2017 - all of them by Maty Ryan.

Newcastle had not had a penalty awarded against them at home since September 2018, when Jamie Vardy scored for Leicester.

That changed when Neal Maupay put the Seagulls in front.

He went on to complete the first double strike by an Albion player since Aaron Connolly in the 3-0 home win over Spurs almost a year ago.

Albion might just have caught Newcastle at the right time (although it didn’t feel like it when the hosts confidently named an unchanged team after their impressive opening win at West Ham).

Toon are slow starters on their own pitch.

They have now lost their opening home fixture in all four seasons since coming back up, to Tottenham (twice), Arsenal and Albion.

They are winless in their last seven opening home games in the Premier League.