EDDIE Howe insists he'll stay calm after Newcastle United slumped to their third successive defeat, as Brighton teenager Evan Ferguson became just the fourth teenager to hit a Premier League hat-trick.

Substitute Callum Wilson claimed a late consolation but Newcastle go into the international break having not won since their opening day success over Aston Villa.

Striker Alexander Isak wasted two early opportunities before the Magpies were blown away by Ferguson to temper the excitement of Thursday’s Champions League draw which pitted them against AC Milan, Paris St Germain and Borussia Dortmund.

Manager Eddie Howe rued the missed chances and some sloppy mistakes leading to Brighton’s 27th-minute opener.

“It’s a tough result for us,” he said. “It could have been very different.

“In the early stages of the game we had some chances, we also had some other good chances.

“The first goal is always a key moment in any Premier League game and that probably dented our confidence, especially after last week.

“Not just the goal but the manner of the goal, it was messy from our perspective and from then on the game was probably not the game we wanted it to be.”

After last season's success, Howe knows there'll be pressure on Newcastle after the run of defeats.

He said:  "I am very realistic. Of course, there are concerns when you are not winning and have lost three in a row. I am not naive to that. You have factors and reasons, the fixture list was very tough for us.

"My job is to be calm and analyse where we can better then go to work on where we can get better."

There was more bad news for Newcastle, as Howe confirmed Joe Willock had suffered a fresh setback in his attempted return from injury.

Asked whether the midfielder was going to step up his recovery during the international break, Howe said: “No unfortunately not. Joe’s had a bit of a setback with an Achilles injury. It’s not related to his hamstring problem so I think he’ll be missing for around six weeks.”