Lyndon Lloyd 07/12/2023 0comments  |  Jump to last
Everton 3 - 0 Newcastle

Everton shrugged off another profligate first half in front of goal and Newcastle’s raised intensity  in the second period to eventually run out handsome 3-0 winners in front of a jubilant crowd under the Goodison lights.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dwight McNeil had spurned gilt-edged chances to put the hosts up during the first 45 minutes and, having failed to make their first-half dominance in terms of opportunities created tell, the fear was that they would again count the cost.

The contest was deadlocked heading towards the final 10 minutes with the Magpies trying to press home their superiority on paper when two uncharacteristic errors by Kieran Trippier handed the Toffees the opportunity to go 2-0 up by the 86th minute.

Then, as Eddie Howe’s men tried to find a way back into the contest with a late rally, substitute Beto beat the offside trap to race away and fire past Martin Dubravka to score his first Premier League goal and wrap up Everton’s second win in the space of five days.

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With Amadou Onana still absent with his ongoing calf issue, Sean Dyche was dealt a further blow in midfield in the run-up to the match when James Garner was ruled out through illness.

Seamus Coleman made his first start of the season and Ashley Young moved to right-midfield while Jack Harrison was deployed in the hole behind the returning Calvert-Lewin and Everton almost went ahead from a seventh-minute corner when Jarrad Branthwaite nodded wide of goal.

McNeil dug out a superb 19th-minute cross from the byline that Calvert-Lewin met at the back post but Martin Dubravka had covered his angles well to make the stop and the striker had an even better chance a minute later. Harrison played Calvert-Lewin in nicely but the latter’s scuffed shot was saved one-handed by the keeper.

As expected, Newcastle had had the majority of the possession but Trippier had failed to trouble Jordan Pickford with a direct free-kick and Miguel Almiron’s attempt to beat the Blues’ keeper when played in by Joelinton was dealt with with similar ease.

Almiron then volleyed over from the edge of the box at one end before a lovely Everton move should have yielded the opening goal. Harrison was the provider once more as he picked McNeil out with a pass inside and the winger took one touch before trying to place a shot inside the far post but put it the wrong side of the upright.

Alexander Isak, who was well shackled for much of the game by Branthwaite and James Tarkowski, went very close in the 36th minute with Newcastle’s best chance of the first half but, thankfully, his header dropped inches wide and three minutes later, Calvert-Lewin somehow missed the best chance he would get all game.

Young was fouled near the halfway line, Tarkowski stole in ahead of his marker to meet Pickford’s deep free-kick and Branthwaite prodded it on to Calvert-Lewin who was all alone in the six-yard box but after setting himself perfectly with control off his chest he somehow hammered the ball over the bar and into the Park End stand.

With no changes made by either side at the break, the pattern of the game continued for the first 10 minutes of the second period, with Calvert-Lewin’s header bouncing off Jamal Lascelles and almost sneaking past Dubravka until he stopped it on the line and visitors cleared their lines.

No doubt under instruction from Howe, Newcastle then began to build some pressure as Anthony Gordon, booed and barracked throughout by the home fans on what was an unproductive night for him personally, despatched a curling effort wide and Lewis Miley flashed a shot over from 25 yards before Gordon passed two idea chances to twist a knife into his former club.

Pickford put Tarkowski into trouble and he coughed the ball up to Gordon but the winger could only fire straight at the keeper. Then, when he was sent into the clear on the counter-attack in the 65th minute, he smashed the ball high and wide with only Pickford to beat.

Having weathered that brief storm, Everton started making inroads of their own. Idrissa Gueye skied a trademark effort from 20 yards over the bar and Abdoulaye Doucouré failed to get enough purchase on a header to trouble Dubravka before Trippier’s slip gifted the Blues the chance to break the impasse.

Receiving a pass in his own half from Guimarães, the England international’s forward options were cut off by the advancing McNeil and as he tried to turn backwards, lost control of the ball and the Everton winger pounced. Driving straight towards goal, he used Calvert-Lewin peeling off to his left as a decoy before leathering an unstoppable drive across Dubravka and high into his net.

Newcastle very nearly wiped that lead out with eight minutes left when Miley’s mis-kicked shot bounced up invitingly for Almiron but his header dropped onto the roof of the net and four minutes after that it was 2-0.

Trippier’s kicked an attempted pass forward into Harrison, he latched into the loose ball and drove towards the box, squared it for McNeil who didn’t make contact with a shot and it fell to Doucouré to stroke it past the keeper from a central position.

Isak threatened to make a game of it in the first minute of stoppage time when he touched the ball past Branthwaite and dinked it over Pickford’s glove but, again, his effort dropped narrowly past the upright.

That left Beto to have the final word when Nathan Patterson sent him away behind the Newcastle defence with a curling ball down the line and the Portuguese made a beeline for goal, making no mistake slotting under Dubravka's legs to put the icing on the proverbial cake.

 

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