Tuesday night sees Newcastle United welcome Everton to St James’ Park.
Both teams picked up wins in their last outing and confidence will be high in both camps.
Alan Pardew will again miss the game due to his three game stadium ban following his headbutt on Hull City’s David Meyler.
Newcastle come into the game on the back of a good run of form. In their last 5 games they have won 3 and lost 2. Everton have also picked up 3 wins and 2 defeats in their last 5 games so both teams are in good shape.
Everton are still pushing for a top 4 finish and Newcastle will still have hopes of finishing in the top 7 and hopefully a place in The Europa League next season.
Match Stats
- Newcastle’s on loan Dutch striker Luuk De Jong has not scored a league goal this season for either Borussia Monchengladbach or Newcastle United.
- Everton haven’t won an away game since 22nd December 2013, a 2-1 win at Swansea.
- Newcastle have won their last 2 home games in a row.
- Everton’s on loan striker Romelu Lukaku has now scored 11 league goals this season.
Team News
Newcastle United could be unchanged as they are still without long-term injury victims Davide Santon, Gabriel Obertan, Ryan Taylor, Mathieu Debeuchy and Loic Remy.
Striker Papiss Cisse finally ended his goal drought with the winner against Crystal Palace last time out.
Everton will be hopeful that club captain Phil Jagielka will be fit to return from injury. Other than that, they will be without Steven Pienaar, Lacina Traore, Brian Oviedo, Darren Gibson and Arouna Kone.
Key Men
Newcastle’s highly rated Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul has had another excellent season and should go to the World Cup in Brazil as the Dutch number 1. He makes a save every 30 minutes and he has kept 8 clean sheets so far this season.
If Newcastle are to finish in the top 7 this season then they will need Krul to add to that already impressive tally.
Ross Barkley has had an extremely impressive first season in the Barclays Premier League. He returned from injury for Saturday’s 3-2 home victory over Swansea and was instrumental in his team’s victory.
Barkley won the penalty for the 1st goal and also scored the 3rd goal.
His close control reminds many of Paul Gascoigne and with 59 successful dribbles this season, it’s easy to see why.
Match Prediction
With 8 games to go, every game is vital and this one will be no different. If Everton have any hope of catching Arsenal in 4th place then they will more than likely need to win every game.
Newcastle, however, also have plenty to play for and if they could finish in 7th place and above Manchester United then that would be a very successful season for the men in black and white.
Personally, I think Everton will have too much for Newcastle. Newcastle have struggled for goals and Everton have goals throughout their team.
I expect Everton to come away with a 3-1 victory and complete the double over the Geordie Men.
