'Fine margins' - Eddie Howe responds to Newcastle United concerns after striker ruled out for three matches

The Sweden international returned to the starting XI after three matches out with a broken toe. Isak’s most costly miss came minutes before Danny Welbeck opened the scoring when he was denied in a one-on-one with Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

"I don't know if his confidence has been hit,” Howe said. “I think Alex is a very strong believer in himself. Just the nature of any injury creates a break in his momentum and his training.

“I thought he performed really well today, lots of his aspects were very good but it was just that last part, which is obviously the most important part, was slightly off. But it is great to have him back and I think he made a difference to our general play.

“As I say, I thought our general play was really good, we were incisive and more aggressive with our passing. We threatened to overrun them at times but we just didn't get that goal our dominance deserved and of course they scored.”

Isak finished last season as Newcastle’s top goalscorer with 25 goals but has managed just one this campaign. Asked if he was concern by the 25-year-old’s form, Howe replied: "As I said, I think there are reasons for that. I think any kind of injury breaks momentum and I think to expect Alex to be at his very best today... of course he has trained in the build-up to the game but he didn't have the depth of training he probably needed to perform.

“I thought a lot of his game was good today, no major issue. He played really well out of position for us and led the line really well in that respect, if he scored two goals no one could have complained and we'd be having a different conversation so it is fine margins for any player."

That said, it isn’t just Isak struggling for goals. Newcastle haven’t scored a goal in open play since Harvey Barnes scored at Fulham, six hours and 45 minutes of football ago.

“Yeah of course, that's not a good stat,” Howe admitted. “Scoring and creating goals brings confidence and belief you win every game. I don't sense that becoming an issue for us, or it hasn't been an issue until this point, I think it has just been a period where... we were playing without a striker for a couple of those games and I think that was potentially an issue in those games.

“Today, you can't look at us and think we didn't look like a good team or a team that won't score goals. We created chances today that we haven't in previous games and I always think that's the biggest judgement you can make.

“You can't always say you will take the chances when they come but you need to create them. We looked creative today and had some really good moments but it wasn't to be.”