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Everton won 1–0 at St James' Park on Monday night, a goal in the 49th minute from Thierno Barry (credited by most reports) after Newcastle keeper Lukas Hornicek let a shot squirm under his body. Newcastle had 17 shots and managed just two on target, then finished with ten men when substitute Jacob Ramsey picked up two yellows in 86 seconds in stoppage time. It was the second time in four days Everton had beaten them, following a 3–1 League Cup win, and the home crowd booed at the end. In Matchweek 9 that lifts Everton to 7th, while Newcastle drop to 13th and the pressure on Matthias Jaissle goes up another notch.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Both sides have played eight games, so this is a chance to climb. Newcastle are 11th on 11 points with a goal difference of minus two, and a win takes them to 14 and into the top half of the table. Everton are 15th on 8 points, and a defeat leaves them level with the clubs hovering just above the bottom three. Nobody is in crisis yet, but nobody is comfortable either.
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2Everton have drawn five of their eight league games this season, which is the sort of consistency that doesn't win you much except a reputation for being hard to beat. They've scored just seven goals in those eight games. If you're looking for an opening line at the pub, ask whether they've considered winning one of them.
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3Player to watch: Bruno Guimarães, Newcastle's Brazilian captain and the man who makes the midfield tick. When he's on form Newcastle look like a proper team, and when he isn't they look like a very expensive group chat. Watch whether he gets time on the ball, because that tends to decide how Newcastle's afternoon goes.
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4The subplot is Newcastle's inconsistency. They've won three, drawn two and lost three, and they've conceded 13 goals, more than they've scored. They can beat Spurs away and then lose heavily at Leeds, so nobody can say which Newcastle will turn up at St James' Park. I couldn't find confirmed team news this morning, so check the line-ups an hour before kick-off.
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5The hook is that this is a Monday night game under the lights at St James' Park, which is about as good a setting as the Premier League offers. Everton fans have also had plenty to talk about off the pitch since the Friedkin Group completed their takeover, so there is a fresh-start feel to the visitors. If you want one thing to say, it's that the Newcastle crowd on a Monday night is worth the price of admission whatever the football is doing.
Team Talking Points
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1Newcastle's last game was a 1-1 draw at Fulham. Jacob Murphy scored a 25-yard screamer, and it lasted all of three minutes before Rodrigo Muniz equalised. Muniz hadn't scored in 15 months, which made it extra annoying.
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2They also had a Dan Burn goal ruled out after VAR spotted a foul by Yoane Wissa in the build-up. Manager Matthias Jaissle called it 'soft' and said his side did enough to win. Agree that it was soft and you'll make a friend for life.
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3Jaissle also called the draw 'a step in the right direction after the last performance'. That tells you the last performance wasn't great. Newcastle sit roughly mid-table on 12 points from 10 games, about four points clear of the drop zone and four off the top six.
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4That puts them in a very Premier League kind of limbo: not in trouble, not in contention. A couple of wins and the talk is Europe. A couple of defeats and people start looking nervously over their shoulders.
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5The first game back after the break is a big one. Leaders Arsenal visit St James' Park on Saturday 21 November. A win there would change the mood around the club overnight, and fans know it.
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Top thing to say down the pub
If VAR hadn't chalked off Dan Burn's goal at Fulham, we'd be talking about the top six, not 'a step in the right direction'.
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Avoid saying
"Newcastle are the richest club in the world, they should be winning everything." Fans have heard it a thousand times. Spending rules mean the money hasn't turned into the trophy-a-season machine people imagine, so you'll get a long lecture on profit and sustainability.
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1Everton are fifth in the Premier League after coming from behind to beat promoted Coventry 3-1 last Friday. It was their third league win in a row. If you'd told an Everton fan a couple of years ago they'd be looking down on most of the league in November, they'd have asked what you were drinking.
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2Thierno Barry was the hero, scoring twice in about four minutes and setting up another, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall adding the third. Barry is the name to drop right now. He's turned into exactly the kind of big, awkward centre-forward Goodison fans always loved, now playing at the new stadium.
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3David Moyes was refreshingly honest afterwards. He admitted Coventry made it 'really difficult' and Everton were lucky not to concede a penalty for a James Tarkowski challenge before half-time. Managers who admit they got away with one are rare, so enjoy it.
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4That win was Moyes's 592nd game in charge of Everton, level with Harry Catterick for the most in the club's history. Catterick won two league titles, so it's a proper bit of company. Assuming he's in the dugout at Brentford on 23 November, Moyes takes the record outright.
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5The fixture list after the break is spicy, with a Merseyside derby against Liverpool coming up in the next few weeks. For the first time in a long while, Everton might go into it higher up the table than their neighbours care to admit.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Moyes is about to become the longest-serving manager in Everton's history, and the team's actually playing like it. Fifth in November isn't a fluke anymore.
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Avoid saying
"Everton are always in a relegation scrap" — that line was depressingly accurate for a while, which is exactly why fans in the top five will take great pleasure in correcting you.