Season › 2011-12 › News Everton vs Newcastle United Lyndon Lloyd , 12 May, 37comments | Jump to most recent Match Preview Everton close out a season that threatened misery but instead gives cause for some optimism with a home game against Champions League-chasing Newcastle United. The Blues can secure seventh place and finish above bitter rivals Liverpool for only the second time since the inception of the Premier League with a victory but the Barcodes have everything to play for themselves. If they win and both Arsenal and Tottenham lose, Alan Pardew's men will steal third place. Even if the Gunners don't lose but Spurs do, the Geordies would still secure the last Champions League qualifying slot... at least temporarily. Their hopes of jumping onto Europe's gravy train will rest on how Chelsea fare against Bayern Munich next week. If the Londoners were to win the Champions League final they would rob the Geordies of the chance to play in next season's competition as only four English teams can qualify for the Champions League each season. So, with so much at stake — depending on how Fulham and Liverpool do in their respective games, the result could be worth £1.6m to Eveton — this will not be an end-of-season stroll at Goodison Park and the Blues know they will have to earn what would be a fifth successive victory on the last day of the season. As far as omens go, one of those final-day successes was a 3-1 win over Newcastle. Article continues below video content The good news for David Moyes is that he could welcome back three players who have missed out recently through injury. Leighton Baines and Phil Neville have recovered from hamstring strains and Darron Gibson is also in contention but Jack Rodwell and Victor Anichebe remain sidelined and must now look forward to next season. Should Baines be selected — it's not clear how much Moyes would risk him given the looming European Championships and the player's hopes of participating — it's likely that Sylvain Distin would drop back to the substitute's bench despite picking up the Everton players' player of the year award in midweek. Neville may start on the bench come what may but Gibson would no doubt start if he is passed fit and partner either Marouane Fellaini or Tim Cahill in central midfield. On the flanks, Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman are the likely starters, with Nikica Jelavic up front and looking to add to his impressive 10 goals in all competitions. More than half of the Croat's shots on goal have been on target this season and he's scored eight League goals from just 18 efforts on goal. Having failed to get the job done at Wolves in what was, ultimately, a disappointing goalless draw despite the refereeing injustice that denied Jelavic another goal, Goodison will be expectant of a rousing performance to end the season on a good note and salvage some Mersey pride. More importantly, though, they will garner the maximum prize revenue still available if they can claim seventh place and make the reds' game at Swansea and Fulham's at Spurs redundant. Lyndon Lloyd » Read more Live Matchday Forum Reader Comments (37) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads