Welcome to the Newcastle v Everton preview.
Saturday 28th February and a 3pm kick-off.
Newcastle play host to Everton this weekend in a rare non-televised match for Eddie Howe’s Magpies.
The Toon have enjoyed success in matches in three competitions recently but will be aware that putting a run of wins together in the league is perhaps the most important objective at this moment in time.
Three home league matches out of the next four against Everton, Man United and the Mackems will hopefully see the Toon gain nine hugely satisfying points.
Everton however will be looking to bounce back from two straight league defeats with a second successive win at St James’ Park.
They have the added incentive of revenge after being given the runaround earlier on in the season when the Toon visited the Hill Dickinson stadium and hammered the Toffees in a superb 4-1 victory.
Form
Newcastle have won one, drawn one and lost four of their past six league matches. We were well worth our victory away at Tottenham but endured a very disappointing scoreless draw away at Wolves. Newcastle have lost to Aston Villa, Liverpool, Brentford and Man City meaning we’re on a poor run of league form at present. We’ve scored six goals in these games and conceded twelve, the four points gained has us eleventh in the league and all results going our way this weekend could see us eighth.
Everton have won two, drawn two and lost two of their past six league matches. Wins have come over Aston Villa and Fulham with draws against Leeds and Brighton. They’ve lost their last two matches against Bournemouth and Man United. They’ve scored six goals and conceded six. The eight points has them ninth and a big win could see them squeeze into seventh on goal difference.
Last time out
Newcastle hosted Qarabag in the Champions League play-off round on Tuesday and scored twice in the opening six minutes through Tonali and Joelinton to make the score 8-1 on aggregate. Anyone thinking we’d have things entirely our own way however was to be mistaken, as the Champions of Azerbaijan took the game back to the Toon and scored a well taken goal to slightly reduce the arrears. Sven Botman soon bulleted home a header to restore the seven goal aggregate advantage but it was Qarabag who were to have the final say when completing the scoring with a rebound from a saved penalty.
Everton played host to Man United on Monday night and put in a fairly toothless performance in a 1-0 defeat. A game of few chances saw the Toffees caught on the break in the second half meaning its seven home games without a win for David Moyes’ team.
Stat attack!
-Newcastle have won four and drawn one of their past seven matches with Everton.
-The Toon have scored at least three goals at home to Everton seven times in the Premier League.
-NUFC have hosted Everton on thirty Premier League occasions, winning sixteen, drawing five and losing nine.
Memorable match
In March 2002, Sir Bobby Robson was masterminding a return to the Champions League for NUFC for the first time in five seasons. When Everton came calling on Easter weekend, a magnificent victory for the Toon ensured a very good Friday indeed! Despite the heavy margin of the win, Newcastle didn’t have things all their own way and were actually behind early on when former striker Duncan Ferguson swung a boot at a loose ball from outside of the area and his miss-hit effort looped over Shay Given to give the Toffees the lead. NUFC had taken just one point from their past three league matches and this wobble was starting to raise concerns about whether or not we could hang on to a place in the top four. Thankfully it took just a few minutes for Alan Shearer to level the scores and soon after Carl Cort netted an unbelievable strike, volleying home with the outside of his foot at the Gallowgate End to give United the lead. With the Toon in the ascendancy and looking to further their advantage, it was a shock to the system when Everton scored a soft goal to level the scores at half-time.
Thankfully the second half would see an absolute goalfest at the Leazes End started by Andy O’Brien, who was able to squeeze the ball home after a scramble from a corner. Solano then made the points safe when he scored twice in two minutes after fantastic work from Dyer for the first and Jenas for the second. There was just enough time for some trickery from Lua Lua to set up Olivier Bernard to slam home our fourth of the second half to ensure a phenomenal win for the Magpies. Sir Bobby’s team would go on to take twelve points from the remaining seven league games to secure a fourth placed league finish and a place in the play-off rounds of the money spinning Champions League. Newcastle 6-2 Everton.
Played for both
Steve Watson came through the youth team at NUFC and spent eight years at the Toon before moving on to Aston Villa. A defender by trade, he did possess an eye for goal and often came forward to good effect, scoring our last winning goal at Anfield in 1995 with a fine effort to win a league Cup tie. He played for Everton for five years from 2000 and scored a memorable hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Leeds.
Gary Speed was a lifelong Everton fan and signed for the Toffees from Leeds in 1996, scoring on his debut against the Toon in a 2-0 win that put a dampener on Alan Shearer’s first start for the black and whites. The attack-minded midfielder made fifty-eight appearances in two years at Goodison, scoring sixteen goals, before signing for Kenny Dalglish in February 1998. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3-1 win over Barnsley in the FA Cup quarter-final as we marched towards a Wembley final. He spent six years with Newcastle, playing under three different managers and making three separate appearances for the Toon at the old Wembley stadium. Highlights of his time at NUFC include scoring the winning goal in a UEFA Cup quarter-final against PSV, an absolutely belting volley in a win against Bradford and a headed equaliser in a crucial Champions League win over Dynamo Kiev. A true modern day legend.
Tragically, Gary Speed took his own life in 2011. If you or anyone you know is struggling then please call the Samaritans for free on 116 123. Never feel like you have to face things alone.
Duncan Ferguson was an Everton legend in two different spells at the Toffees either side of playing for Newcastle United. Unfortunately, his time at St James’ was overshadowed by a complete lack of form and fitness. His two year spell at the Toon started well enough with two goals on his debut at home to Wimbledon but things went downhill soon after. There weren’t many great memories of his time on Tyneside but a superb turn and volley in a 3-0 victory over Man United was wildly celebrated on a day when everything went right for the real United as the Premier League champions were blown away.
Managers
Eddie Howe after a 3-2 victory over Qarabag in the Champions League ensuring progress from a 9-3 aggregate win:
“It’s a massive achievement from us to get to the last sixteen. I’ve loved the new format, I think it’s a really good thing. I’ve really enjoyed it. Coming to the pressure games, the double-headers, we’ve navigated that really well. I don’t think it was a great performance but I’m really pleased that we won. This was our target at the start of the season. We discussed various things and to get to the knockout stages was there for us and we felt we could achieve it with the players we have. It’s been a really exciting phase of this competition. We’ve really enjoyed the different challenges. The knockout stage will be a different challenge for us at the sharp end against elite teams, so everything to look forward to. But at the back of my mind we have to get our Premier League form back to where we want it to be and that will give us the best chance to do well at this competition as well.”
David Moyes after a 1-0 home defeat to Man United:
“I’m not happy with the scoreline that’s for sure. You have to win games if you are going to keep moving on. We’ve not been doing that as much as we’d like, especially here at home. We’ve lost narrowly to United, we beat them narrowly at Old Trafford earlier in the season. I thought we did well in lots of bits, we got done on the counter and they got the one goal. We put in effort to score but lacked quality to get the goal. Their goalkeeper did a great job, made an amazing save from Michael Keane, looked as if he could take every corner kick. I thought there was a goal in there for us but we couldn’t quite do it.”
Charity
Newcastle United fans food bank will once again be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end and gratefully receiving food, money and toiletries for those in need. Of particular interest are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, cordial, long life milk etc) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give whatever you can, any donation is very much appreciated.
For further info and/or to donate online go to Newcastle Foodbank
Prediction
This is a massive match for both teams who look to get their league form back on track in the nick of time, if they are to put a run of form together and climb into the European places. Newcastle may have only won one of their past six league matches but we’ve also beaten Villa away and Qarabag (twice) in cup competitions, as well as putting in a hell of a shift against Manchester City. Hopefully this is a sign that confidence is returning to the side and I fancy the Toon to pull off a nervy victory in this one ahead of crucial tests against both Manchester clubs over the next week. Newcastle 1-0 Everton.