Venue: St. James’ Park
Date: 28/12/2014
Kick-off: 16:15 (BST)
It was clear that Everton were enduring a difficult season but it can now safely be stated that the Toffees have entered a state of crisis.
In a must win game on Boxing Day, Everton proceeded to suffer a disappointing 1-0 defeat at the hands of Stoke City at Goodison Park and the defeat has all but ended Roberto Martinez’s sides hopes of finishing in one of the European positions this season.
Although such a statement does sound a bit pre mature as we have entered only the half way point of the season so far, Everton simply do not look good enough to finish in Europe this season.
Therefore, Martinez is probably feeling the pressure and he will be desperate for his side to claim a good result when they square off against Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on Sunday.
Even Newcastle are not going through the best of runs at the moment but the match will in no way be an easy fixture for the Toffees – especially as they have been very poor in the past few weeks.
Everton Team News
The team news is also not all that promising for Martinez as the key duo of Tim Howard and Phil Jagielka are unlikely to feature on the day after being forced off at half time against Stoke City on Boxing Day due to a calf and hamstring injury respectively.
In the absence of Howard, young Joel Robles should take his place between the sticks while Sylvain Distin and Antolin Alcaraz will be battling out against each other to win a spot in central defence to replace Phil Jagielka.
Things are difficult in attack as well for Everton, as Kevin Mirallas is struggling with his fitness while Steven Naismith is unavailable due to suspension.
In the place of Mirallas, Aiden McGeady is likely to be deployed and Samuel Eto’o should get the nod to start in the attacking midfield position in place of Naismith – with Ross Barkley being pushed out on the wings to accommodate the Cameroonian veteran.
Romelu Lukaku was anonymous against Stoke once again and it would not be a surprise if Martinez decides to drop the striker in favour of Arouna Kone this weekend.
Teams
Newcastle United (Probable XI): Alnwick, Dummett, Taylor, Coloccini, Janmaat; Tiote, Colback; Gouffran, Sissoko, Ayoze Perez; Armstrong
Everton (Probable XI): Robles; Baines, Alcaraz, Stones, Coleman; Barry, McCarthy; McGeady, Barkley, McGeady; Eto’o, Kone
Form
Newcastle United: W L L L L
Everton: L L W L L
Prediction
Everton are unbeaten in their last five meetings against Newcastle United and have claimed four victories in the process. Therefore, Everton clearly have the edge over Newcastle in recent times and should be in good mental shape this weekend.
However, the Toffees are simply in a terrible run of form and are showing no signs of improvement, with their disappointing performance against Stoke City a testament to this fact. It is clear that unless Everton can stop the slump, their fine record over Newcastle means for little heading into Sunday’s clash.
As a glimmer of hope for Everton though, Newcastle themselves have not set the world alight with their recent performances and their form is almost identical to the Toffees. Therefore, it is impossible to gauge which team has the upper hand heading into the game.
Neither Newcastle nor Everton are poor teams by any stretch of the imagination but their performances simply have not been good enough. The game on Sunday looks set to be an exciting contest and a draw could be on the cards – which would not necessarily be the worst result in the world for the two sides.
Newcastle United 1-1 Everton
