To do so, United will have to put a stop to a rather alarming run of final day form which has seen us fail to record a Premier League win away from home on the final day of the season, ever.
Mind you this season has been full of little record breaking performances and I wouldn’t put it past the lads to set another one straight at Goodison. It won’t be easy though – going to Goodison is rarely easy – so the lads will need to be in top form if they are to come away with the win that would put us in a position to capitalise on any slip up made by either Arsenal or Tottenham, or indeed both!
Newcastle United
The good news is that there is no new news with regard to injury. Danny Simpson has already been ruled out and will join Haris Vuckic, Steven Taylor, Peter Lovenkrands and Sammy Ameobi on the sidelines.
Everton
Jack Rodwell is definitely out of action, as is Victor Anichebe, although David Moyes will be hoping there is more positive news with regard to Leighton Baines, Darron Gibson and Phil Neville, all of whom will be judged closer to the match.
Previously…
Newcastle beat Everton 2-1 at St James’ park earlier on in the season, with an own goal from John Heitinga and a stunning effort from Ryan Taylor (see below) doing the damage on the day and ensuring Jack Rodwell’s goal just before half time was a mere consolation for the Toffees.
Our last trip to Goodison ended up yielding three points thanks to a rather special goal from Hatem Ben Arfa – his first for the club. However our record on the North side of Stanley Park has been hit and miss throughout the Premier League era. In 16 trips to Goodison we’ve won five times, drawn four times and lost seven times, or nine times if you add a League Cup tie and FA Cup tie into the equation.
Overall this will be the 162nd time the two sides have met in all competitions. Newcastle shade Everton by 64 wins to 63, with 34 draws making up the numbers.
Tactics and team selection
We’ve seen a switch back to 4-4-2 in recent weeks, with a 2-0 win against Chelsea and a 2-0 reverse against City to show for our efforts. This comes after a stint of playing 4-3-3 which saw us win six out of seven games, with the one loss being the heavy defeat to Wigan.
I have a sneaky feeling that we’ll line up 4-4-2 for this one, with the main aim being getting Demba Ba a goal before the season concludes. Of course that stands more chance of happening if Demba is in more dangerous, more central positions.
The goalkeeper picks himself, as do the back four without Simpson and Steven Taylor. Midfield is another area which is likely to cause a surprise, and it’s pretty much nailed on that Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse will start. The only real question is in which formation we start them…
Match stats
Newcastle have failed to come from behind to win a game this season.
A win would gibe Newcastle their joint second best Premier League points total, and would surpass any total amassed by the late great Sir Bobby Robson.
Newcastle have not scored an own goal all season!
If Shola starts, it will be his 150th Premier league start for the club.
Cheik Tiote could make his 50th Premier League start.
Captain Coloccini has never been used as a substitute for NUFC, but has made 153 appearances for the club.
Everton have the third meanest defence in the division having conceded just 39 goals – a tally better only by the two Manchester clubs.
David Moyes has his side in form at the moment. Unbeaten in eight game, the Toffees have won four of them.
This is a “home banker” fixture. The away side has only won twice in 18 attempts. One was last season when Hatem Ben Arfa weaved his magic, but when was the other?
Final thought
It sounds churlish to say that this season hinges on this one game, because we’ve already surpassed what even the most positive expected this season. To be still in with a shout of qualifying for the Champions League with one game remaining is exceptional and credit must go to the layers and management for it. Clearly they were underestimated by many…
Having said that, to bow out with a whimper would be a huge discredit to the players who have performed so well this season. Yes qualifying for the Champions League is out of our hands, but let’s crank up the pressure whilst we can. Remember, it isn’t us who needs to be in the Champions League!
Howay the lads!
Date: Sunday, 13th May, 2012
Kick-off: 3pm
Venue: Goodison Park
i fancy some fish n chips
Nobby(Quote)
Lawro has predicted this one a draw.
I pretty much agree.
1-1.
Everton v Newcastle
This is an interesting one. Newcastle would be a big scalp for Everton and, if the Toffees win, they will finish seventh and above Liverpool.
The Magpies had the right approach in trying to keep things tight rather than attacking Manchester City last Sunday because, when teams have beaten City this season, that is how they played.
If you go and take City on, with the attacking players they have got, you are asking for trouble. So Newcastle boss Alan Pardew was correct to try and be a bit cuter than he might have been against a lesser side. It is just that City were the better team.
Newcastle will also be pushing hard for victory because they know they could still end up in the top four depending on how Tottenham and Arsenal do at the weekend, but I have a funny feeling this will end up as a draw.
It has been a good season for Everton but a very good one for Newcastle. I’d like to think they will be up at the top of the table next year too because we have seen that they have some very good players, and they shouldn’t be far away even if they lose one or two.
Prediction: 1-1
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
his other predictions are here if yous are interested:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18021230
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Joint 3rd best* 😉 Beat it in 02/03, great season. I will never tire of watching that dvd, that final CL group game was incredible.
I’m backing us to win it 3-1 tomorrow. But I don;t think other results will go our way unfortunately. Can see Arsenal drawing and Spurs winning. Hope not though!
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
of course theres no pressure on us toonsy, but i wonder what approach our manager of the year is going to take?
cant wait for tommorow to see what formation we will playing.
i really really hope that the 3 cockney teams that have our destiny in there hands all lose the vital games, that they have coming up..
one more time, if we finish 5th, at what stage of the europa league do we enter again??
toonsoldier9(Quote)
Oh my bad, 4th best*
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
@toonsoldier if we finish 5th (regardless of Chelsea’s CL result) we will enter at the final qualifying tie in late August.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
cheers sol 😉
toonsoldier9(Quote)
Felt Spuds would lose tommorow untill I saw Dempsey out 🙁 can’t see them losing now. Arsenal will draw i reckon , can see wet *** giving them a good game. send off Roy in style 😀
kimtoon(Quote)
“A win would gibe Newcastle their joint second best Premier League points total, and would surpass any total amassed by the late great Sir Bobby Robson.”…….we’ve beaten 68 points 5 times and Sir Bobby’s NUFC beat it twice 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Richie ,11 games ago I predicted us to finish on 62 and maybe nick 6th place ,so i’m happy as a pig in **** to be on 65 and in Europe. I don’t care what people say , ALL the pressure is on Spuds and Arsenal cause for them to miss out on CL next season would be a disaster as it will be for Chelski as well ,who must be desperate for the win in the final now.
kimtoon(Quote)
KimT….I can’t wait for tomorrow. As long as they give it their best shot, whatever else happens it’s been a fantastic season 😀 ….that said I’d be a wee bit gutted if we lost and Spurs drew or lost and Arsenal lost 😕
richietoon(Quote)
Richie ,god no ,don’t even go there 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
If we were to nick 4th, waiting for and then watching the Champions League final will be a bit of a nail biter too!
richietoon(Quote)
@KimT: C’mon have some faith in fulham.Even without Dempsey, they have Pavel Pogrebnyak,Moussa Dembele,Bryan Ruiz,Danny Murphy.
And even Damien Duff can do a job. 🙄 😉
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
Angel ,Well Duff certainly owes us one 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
reckon Spurs will **** on Fulham tomorrow. Spurs tend to struggle agaibst sides that sit back and frustrate them. Fulham under Jol won’t do that.
The Kid(Quote)
I’m a bit more optimistic re: Fullham. This is a side that can absorb pressure for periods then strike quickly. They have earned draws at Arsenal and Chelsea and a win at Liverpool this season (plus 1-0 loss at OT) – they’re more likely to counter attack away than at home.
Free Scoring Smudge(Quote)
just been reading – 15 years ago, the toon needed to win and a couple of teams around us, needed to faulter on the last day of the season, for us to get into the champions league, AND WE DID IT 😉 😉 😉 can lightening strike twice ❓ ❓
but best of all, in the same season, both middlesbourgh and the 5under1and were relegated on the last day 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 i wish these days could happen more often 😉 😉
toonsoldier9(Quote)
ToonSoldier…Aye, I was there at that home game. Great atmosphere when we realised we were there
richietoon(Quote)
Aye,
Richie i was there too, Sir Les Ferdinand’s last league game for the Toon sadly. Loved him to bits! 😥
TonyGreenSupreme(Quote)
I just tried to listen to the pardew interview on iplayer but apparently my bandwidth isnt stong enough, it suggested I downloaded it but apparently they havnt yet got radio iplayer stuff for downloads 😥 woo is me 😕
andymag(Quote)
richietoon
May 12, 2012 at 12:44
BB….No, he’ll get a slapped wrist and told that he’s a “very naughty boy”
.
Finally got an explanation to your ansa Richie. And yes you are right.
10th yellow had to be received by the 2nd sunday in April in order to get a two match suspension. After that its just a slapped wrist. Phew.
😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Gutted for Lewis Hamilton. Pit crew **** up and he loses pole position.
😳
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
BB
Thats good to here that means tiote is without a suspension this year, am I right?
andymag(Quote)
Then the only people that’ve been suspended are jonas, gosling and cabaye, pretty good considering how many were suspended last year.
andymag(Quote)
BB@24-That crew needs to sort themselves out ,there was a **** up with the tyre changes last two times too, costing vital time 😯
kimtoon(Quote)
BM getting beat 4-1,just hope there keeping them selves for final
icedog(Quote)
Bayern Munich losing 4-1…. geez Bayern, get it together 🙄
Susan(Quote)
Did you guys know that Ben Arfa’s released an ‘official site’, was on it just before, its in French but there is a link to go to the english version of the site, I clicked on it and a new page came up with the words ‘english site coming soon’ and below the writing was a picture of Ben Arfa doing a star jump in frony of the union jack 😆
andymag(Quote)
Whoops, beat me to it icedog!
Susan(Quote)
Dortmund are beast though, dont get nearly enough global recognition.
andymag(Quote)
The man to watch is the CB subotic, hes gunna be huge, and goetzte’s pretty good too
andymag(Quote)
Andymag, what’s the site? I can’t find it…
Susan(Quote)
BB…soz, I should have put more detail ref Tiote’s yellows. 😕
richietoon(Quote)
susan
I think its ben-arfaoficial.com, but if that doest work go on nufcfans on the article about benafa being on social network, there’s a link to it there.
andymag(Quote)
Subotic actually came up through the u.s. youth system but chose to play for serbia national senior squad. He’ll be one of the top cbs in the world in a couple years.
MDS(Quote)
‘If Shola starts, it will be his 150th Premier league start for the club.’
You may aswell keep hold of that one toonsy. 😆
DJG(Quote)
Ha Ha Richie. Nay probs fella. I was getting frustrated and needed a definitive answer. Got it off the FA website in the end.
.
Are BM playing their ressies like ffs.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Good read Toonsy 😉 win lose or draw tomorrow the season will still have been a success, but I fancy us to sign out in style 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Dave….Me too, here’s hoping anyway
richietoon(Quote)
Susan
Dont know if you still want it but
http://www.hatem-benarfa.com/index.php/
andymag(Quote)
Click on the ‘English’ link to see the funny picture
andymag(Quote)
Here’s Cabaye, he looks like James Bond 😎
http://yohan-cabaye.com/eng/
click on mood of the day to see a mini article he posted on the 4th of May about his life in Newcastle 😀
andymag(Quote)
If you go to Cabaye’s personality section its got bits from his friends and family about him, in the ‘according to players’ bit they’re from Debuchy and Hazard 😎 Could it be his two good friends could be with us
andymag(Quote)
Don’t like the last sentence from Debuchy 😡 , Hazard has class banter though 😆
andymag(Quote)
What lucky chappy will have the Yohan Cabaye wallpaper on his/her moniter? 😆 you have two pictures of Cabaye posing to choose from 😀 you can tell I have nothing to do 😕 At some point they’ll be a contact section 😯
andymag(Quote)
Andy, at least you can find this stuff and pass it on, so might say you have nothing to do, but you re finding stuff for us
Simon(Quote)
Simon
tooshey(don’t do french) 😉 😆
andymag(Quote)
holy **** Freddy Shepard is bidding for Rangers 😯 😯
andymag(Quote)
Andy @45
You never know, it might even be three good friends who could be with us
Hazard said: “At that time, Yohan was close to Kevin Mirallas another Belgian player, and eventually, I got closer to them.”
Interestingly, Mirallas is a player we’ve been linked with already and he certainly looks to be the type of guy we’d be after:
http://www.goal.com/en/news/596/exclusive/2012/02/23/2923369/newcastle-everton-among-four-premier-league-sides-in-race-for-6m-
Chris G(Quote)
Andy @42 thanks! I will check it out 😀
Susan(Quote)
Oi oi doylems! Yi daft daftys!
Cannit wait noo for the Everton match like!
Pure adrenalin rush aal neet man!
Me, Dekka and Big Mick have had nee kip like!
Just been up raving aal neet !
Cannit believe Big Mick winnit tek his chopper doon to Everton cos he reckons the bizzie copter burnt him off last time and he was gutted owa it!
A love Big Mick like but a wouldn’t even be bothered aboot that like!
Hoo man , a burnt a traffic bizzie off on me BMX so that means nowt does it like!?
Anyways, a says, ” HOO BIG MICK, WILL FILL THE PETROL TANK FULL OF PURE COKE AND SEE IF THU CAN CATCH WU THEN LIKE! HA HA HA, ! PURE LIBERTY TAKERS THE BIZZIES LIKE!”
Big Mick was having nen of it like.
He says, ” HOO MAN TROY SHUT YA GASH MAN WILL YI, YI DAFT DOYLEM”
Pure compliment that like if Big Mick caals yi a doylem so am happy WU that like.
Anyways, godda gan noo cos Dekka’s just pulled up in his Ford Capri and wi leaving noo!
Luck after yisels and keep an eye oot for is when a run on the pitch starkers !
Laters Gaters!
Toon! Toon!
Rotary Vests(Quote)
*** check out Yohan… in a dinner jacket! *swoon* 😆
His site is in a very cute English… and I’m gonna translate some of HBA’s after yoga 😀
Susan(Quote)
LOL cesspool want Roberto Martinez to replace King Kenny.
😯
Shame as he was doing a grand job at fecking them up. 😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)