Paul Merson is backing Newcastle United to leave Goodison Park with a tight 2-1 win ahead of tonight’s 7.30pm kick-off on Amazon Prime.
He believes we’ve been ‘absolutely phenomenal’ this season and ‘can’t talk highly enough’ of our Eddie Howe’s team after we ‘slaughtered’ Man Utd last weekend.
The Sky Sports pundit expects Anthony Gordon to ‘get a lot of stick’ against his former club and thinks there’s no chance of Everton get relegated, despite their 10-point deduction, but thinks Sean Dyche’s side might come up just short tonight.
He’s not sure we can keep up such excellent performances with the number of injuries in our squad and expects Everton to cause us ‘a few problems’, yet thinks we’ll still have a enough to get the win.
Here’s what he told Sportskeeda ahead of the game:
‘Newcastle have been absolutely phenomenal this season. I have a lot of respect for the way they’ve played. The manager’s great and he improved people – that’s the name of the game when you’re a coach. They’re getting the rewards they deserve.
‘Anthony Gordon’s going to get a lot of stick at Goodison Park this week. He’s been great so far, but he won’t be too comfortable against Everton. Newcastle slaughtered United without a lot of their players, and I can’t talk highly enough of them.
‘I’d be shocked if Everton got relegated this season. They’ve got a lot of X-factor results in them, and they did well against Villa away from home. Everton can be dangerous on their day and with the three promoted teams struggling in the Premier League, they should be able to stay up.
‘Everton are a funny team at home – they’re beating as an away side at the moment. If they’re able to create chances at home, they can cause Newcastle a few problems. I’m not sure if Newcastle can keep pulling off excellent performances every week, but they should be able to win this game.’
Prediction: Everton 1-2 Newcastle
