Everton (A) Pre-match thoughts, team news, possible line-ups & prediction

by Olly Hawkins · Published 6 December 2023, 20:00

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:

"We have a group of incredible characters who are prepared to give everything physically and mentally to achieve success. There should be a good feeling in the group that we have the talent, we have the ability, and we have the character. We’ve got some really good leaders as well that are pushing and helping everybody to perform at a very good level."

"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!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BbtMX8qwSY&ab_channel=NewcastleUnited