After kicking off December with a dominant win over Man Utd last weekend, our run of five crucial games in 12 days starts on Thursday night with a trip to Everton.
The Toffees may sit third bottom thanks to a 10-point deduction and have struggled at home this season, but they’ve won four and drawn one of their last six games and – like Newcastle – will be buoyed from a big win on Saturday night, where they beat Forest 1-0 at the City Ground.
We go into this with no one back from injury and without the injured Nick Pope, yet the current crop of fit players have done us proud in recent weeks. Incredibly, we sit top of the Premier League form table based on the last 10 games, with seven wins, two draws, just one defeat, 25 goals scored and seven conceded. Considering all of the injuries, Sandro Tonali saga, the hectic schedule and tough draws, it’s a remarkable achievement and testament to Eddie Howe and the character within our squad.
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s trip to Goodison Park, the boss had this to say:
“It has been a big effort from the group, the players have really grasped the situation we are in, they have really stood up. We took a lot of confidence from the Chelsea game, which was a massive result for us. That led to Paris which was a difficult one to talk about and then what a response against Manchester United. I thought that was our best performance of the season.”
“They have made big strides as a team, the biggest challenge for us is that we compete as they do. They are a very strong, physical team. They will pose questions for us defensively which we will have to answer, we are going to have to respond to those questions. It is a big game for us. We know our away form has to improve.”
Team news
Nick Pope (shoulder) has been ruled out for around four months ahead of surgery. Howe revealed that a few of our injured players are “very close” to training again, but it seems this game is likely to come too soon for Sven Botman, Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock, Harvey Barnes and Callum Wilson.
Elsewhere, Elliot Anderson, Jacob Murphy, Dan Burn and Matt Targett are expected back in the New Year. Thankfully, Kieran Trippier avoided his fifth yellow card of the season last weekend and is OK to play despite missing training on Tuesday, but he’ll miss our trip to Spurs on Sunday if booked in this one.
For Everton, Dominic Calvert-Lewin is fit again, Amadou Onana is ‘touch and go’ and Seamus Coleman is back in contention after recovering from a long-term injury.
Predicted line up
(4-3-3): Dubravka – Trippier, Lascelles, Schar, Livramento – Miley, Guimaraes, Joelinton – Almiron, Isak, Gordon.
A very similar situation to last weekend with none of our outfield players ready to return just yet, but one obvious change will see Martin Dubravka replace Nick Pope in goal.
Lewis Hall is someone we could call on at full-back or in midfield if Howe felt the need to rest some of the 11 who’ve started each of our last three games, I just can’t see us changing a winning formula unless fatigue is an issue.
Prediction
We’re on a sensational run in the circumstances and have responded to that 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth brilliantly. If we could beat a fired up Everton side at Goodison it’ll be one of our most impressive wins of the season, as it’s a tough ask for the same 11 to start four-straight games in just over 10 days.
However, our away form in the league has been a bit off lately, seeing us draw two (2-2 at Wolves/West Ham) and lose one (2-0 at Bournemouth) in our last three.
I’m going for a hard-fought draw, yet it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if we dug deep and found a way to win once again!
NUFC Blog prediction: Everton 1-1 Newcastle
HWTL!
Losing the continuity and familiarity of pope in goal should hurt the team but we’ve seen before how little nufc change and how players considered sub-par perform well when brought in through enforced injuries and let’s hope that’s apparent tomorrow
Suspect Everton will fancy it tomorrow and come after nufc from the start. With their perceived injustice over the points deduction galvanising a sense of unity it’ll be a hostile atmosphere that nufc need to quiet early and I think nufc should be aggressive to shut Everton down quickly.
Let’s hope Gordon stars and everton choke on their salty caramel
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Agree, tonight could be a sticky one, pardon the pun. The crowd will be right on it and with our injuries we could suffer. It’s terrible luck for Pope, he was having such a good game until disaster struck, just hope he’s out less than the predicted 5 months but realistically we won’t see him until next season and let’s hope it doesn’t become a long term issue for his shoulder too.
As much as I have some sympathy for Toffee’s fans over the 10 point deduction , we know how much bad owners effect a club from top down. In the end they were not complaining when huge sums were paid for players and as scousers would say the chichhhhhen’s come home to roost.
kimtoon(Quote)
I’m not sure the 10 point deduction is meaningful.
They have been averaging over a point per game and they should have enough to avoid relegation.
So what does it actually cost them, some prize money from finishing lower seems to be about all.
Having said that it’s a lot for what was a relatively small overspend.
PremAndUp(Quote)
yup a second dislocation for pope is difficult at this stage in his career. Howe suggested it was a different part of his shoulder to his original dislocation. I can’t figure out if that’s worse or better for long term recovery.
I also think everton will be fine this year .. they were looking good for lower mid table respectability this year as something to build on with dyche
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Same team apart from Dubravka in goal as expected. Bench very defensive with kids for attacking options. Going to be a tough one this.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
HWTL
kimtoon(Quote)
The audio on amazon prime is terrible, anyone else having issues ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Audio is ok, but picture isn’t great. Keeps stopping briefly too.
Very scrappy first half. We look knackered . Two bad misses too from Miggy and Alex. Some bad misses from toffees too like.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Oh dear Tripps
kimtoon(Quote)
Gilly it’s breaking up the audio and pics not much better, not impressed with prime coverage.
Thought a mistake by either side would result in a goal as very tight
kimtoon(Quote)
Well now we are collapsing
2.0
our lads are shattered, one game too far
kimtoon(Quote)
Well that’s just embarrassing now.
kimtoon(Quote)
What a fucking disaster !!!
Gilly Toon(Quote)