Steve Bruce's Newcastle go into their penultimate game of the season knowing only a win will take them to the 46 point mark of improvement from last season's 45 with Champions Liverpool looming on the final day of the Premier League season.

An injury-hit Magpies squad is without defenders Fabian Schar (Dislocated shoulder), Captain Jamaal Lascelles (Operation), Florian Lejeune (Thigh), Ciaran Clark (Ankle) and Paul Dummett (Ineligible) so have been given special dispensation from The Premier League to call 20 year-old defender Kell Watts up to the First Team squad for the game:

Down to the bare bones of defence to such an extent that striker Andy Carroll even volunteered to play centre-half with Bruce saying about the Geordie talisman,

"He's okay. He could play.
"Andy reminded me he has played centre-half before!
"It was a long, long time ago. I think he started as a left-back.
"So Andy looks okay for Monday."

Newcastle must see attack as the best form of defence but with Allan Saint-Maximin a doubt and midfielders Sean Longstaff and Isaac Hayden ruled out, things aren't as straight forward at the top end of the pitch either.

Yet with a revitalised Dwight Gayle scoring three times in lockdown, Newcastle still pack a punch although it must be said the side operate best when Joelinton starts as well with the big Brazilian having played from the off in wins against Sheff Utd & Bournemouth and the draws with Aston Villa & West Ham yet he didn't start in more disappointing losses against lowly Watford and at home to Spurs.

The Bruce vs Benitez Debate Rumbles On

Its the debate that has raged all season on Tyneside and beyond ever since Newcastle United unveiled Steve Bruce as the successor to Manager Rafa Benitez who left for Dalian Yifang in China - who is the better manager of Newcastle United Football Club?

SKY's Soccer Saturday presenter Jeff Stelling unwittingly entered the lion's den on his show on Saturday facing immediate backlash from The Toon Army,

and he received abuse for many Newcastle supporters for doing so, later tweeting:

Thankfully for The Magpies, despite occasional early bad results followed by over-the-top criticism, Steve Bruce has emerged with great credit having navigated a successful fight against relegation securing the club mid-table security and, arguably, has already outdone Benitez guiding the club to its first FA Cup Quarter-Final since 2005.

Bruce achieved the "miracle" of Premier League survival - as Benitez called it at NUFC - with six games to spare following a 4-1 spanking of Bournemouth on the South Coast and after a draw and three defeats since that phenomenal performance and result, has fended off accusations his players have been on the beach and in 'holiday' mode.

Yet there is one more point for Bruce left to prove against his critics and doubters or rather three as a win against Brighton or Liverpool will lift his Newcastle side to 46 points for the season, one more than Benitez ever achieved as Newcastle manager in a top flight campaign.

In the 2017/8 season, Newcastle finished 10th with 44 points and in last season's 2018/9 season, Benitez's men finished 13th with 45 points and as it stands, Newcastle have 43 points and are in 13th place with two games remaining.

A win against Graham Potter's Brighton or Jurgen Klopp's men on the final day and the debate will effectively be over - Bruce will have beaten Benitez's best points total by a point & proven himself an equally capable if not better manager of Newcastle United.

The Brighton manager himself was quick, like the vast majority of astute observers in the game, to praise Steve Bruce's season in his pre-match press conference:

"I think he's done an amazing job when you consider the bit of negativity that was surrounding it to start with and a lot of the off the pitch noise shall we say that doesn't help but in terms of results, he's clear of anything,"

and Brighton go into the game knowing a point will guarantee Premier League status.

To many, Bruce has already proved himself the better manager, successfully juggling Newcastle's safe passage to another season in The Premier League and with a Cup run to boot as he promised when he took the job "to take the Cups more seriously".

To those who would denigrate Newcastle's FA Cup run as 'only' beating Rochdale, Oxford & WBA, consider the result of the exact same fixture when Benitez's Newcastle faced Oxford in The FA Cup losing 3-0 in 2017 compared to Bruce's 3-2 victory:

Many critics have pointed to Bruce's inferior record at other clubs to Benitez's glittering managerial career but in the same job with the same owner largely with the same group of players, Geordie Bruce has marginally edged his predecessor at St. James' Park.

Some have pointed to 'Luck' being a factor in Bruce's campaign so far but that view seems an unfair, churlish denigration of a man who has given his all to his dream job.

Sometimes football is stranger than fiction, just ask Benitez when he was on the receiving end of a 1-0 defeat with Liverpool to Steve Bruce's Sunderland thanks to a beach ball! Maybe Newcastle could get something against The Champions after all...