Newcastle hosted Everton at St James’ Park under the lights and live on Prime Video.
If ever the word “clash” was apt, this is that game. It was a very stop-start first half, especially in the opening minutes. Everton had Dominic Calvert-Lewin booked on 8 minutes for a bad tackle on Bruno Guimaraes which seemed to set the tone for the night.
The Toon Army were loud and proud, never more so than when the ball was at the feet of Jordan Pickford.
While Newcastle had the lion’s share of possession and chances, Everton looked dangerous when on the counter-attack, right up until their final ball when the whole move would collapse like a flan in a cupboard.
Similarly, Newcastle’s attack looked rather toothless for a while as the Magpies seemed to want to walk the ball into the net. Bruno had a couple of chances which went a couple of inches wide of the left-hand upright. Those two chances were the bread in the delicious sandwich that was Miguel Almiron’s goal.
On 31 minutes, Newcastle foiled an Everton attack and went up the other end via Trippier who fired in a deep cross that was nodded back across the 18 yard box and picked up by Bruno Guimaraes who laid it off for Almiron to hit a first time looping effort into the top corner. It was a delicious goal to add to his tally this season.
Tensions boiled over near half time as Joelinton got away with a clumsy challenge and could have easily been given a second yellow, then a couple of minutes later, Dan Burn nudged Anthony Gordon in the back who went down as if he’d been hit by a speeding train. Gordon then got up and got into a bit of a to-do with Kieran Trippier who soon had backup in the form of Fabian Schar who looked like he was going to tear Gordon’s head off. Schar and Gordon were booked for their respective stupidity and the first half ended with Newcastle 1-0 up.
Eddie Howe made a change at half time with Joe Willock replaced Joelinton who had been booked and was very lucky to still be on the pitch following that clumsy challenge.
Not for the first time this season, Newcastle made a slow start to the second half allowing the opposition to get back into the game.
Although it wasn’t all one way traffic, Newcastle went close again with another Almiron strike from the edge of the box, it was mostly Everton after the break. On 60 minutes a stat flashed up on the screen showing Everton to have had 90% possession in the last 5 minutes.
Fortunately, their final ball was still letting them down and their attacks fizzled out at the last minute but was a dangerous game Newcastle were playing.
Newcastle wasted another golden opportunity on 69 minutes when Callum Wilson brought down a pass with a magnificent turn and played in Trippier who opted to pass across the face of goal back to Willock instead of taking on the shot and Willock was closed down and Newcastle had to make do with a corner which came to nothing.
Eddie Howe made two changes following that with Elliot Anderson and Ryan Fraser coming on in place of Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron. Meanwhile, Neal Maupay replaced Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Alex Iwobi made way for James Garner for Everton, meaning they went with a middle three of Garner, Gana and Onana which when said out loud will make your furniture float in mid air.
Anderson’s first taste of action saw him take on two defenders and then himself losing the ball but ultimately winning it back only to be fouled by Anthony Gordon who was also lucky to not get a second yellow.
Who Was Your MOTM Against Everton?
Miguel Almiron
Kieran Trippier
Bruno Guimaraes
Other
Everton withdrew Demarai Gray for Dwight McNeil on 78 minutes, leaving Gordon on the pitch despite being a prime candidate for a red card.
A rare mistake from Bruno Guimaraes gifted Everton a corner on 82 minutes after he needlessly headed the ball out of touch. The resultant dead ball was dealt with perfectly by Dan Burn.
Joe Willock came close to doubling the lead following his driving run that was laid off to Elliot Anderson who hung a ball up in the air for Willock to run onto, but he headed wide. That break in play saw Callum Wilson replaced by Chris Wood for the final five minutes.
Ryan Fraser was lucky to still be playing after a late challenge from James Tarkowski. You could hear the yelp from Fraser as it happened and a replay showed that it was a really bad challenge, a potential leg-breaker. Tarkowski was booked, which is probably the right call as there as no malice in the challenge but it could have gone a lot worse.
After 7 minutes of stoppage time the full-time whistle blew and put everyone out of their misery with Newcastle hanging on to their one goal lead and keeping another clean sheet in the process.
As for man of the match, there were a couple of contenders, Kieran Trippier was at the heart of everything positive we did, and I have to make a special mention to the fan behind the goal at the Gallowgate with the inflatable T-Rex, but I’m going to give it to Mignificent Almiron. His confidence is sky high at the minute and it shows.
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