Newcastle United v Everton: Premier League Preview

After the 3-1 defeat in the EFL Cup Newcastle now have a chance to reverse that result at St James' Park in at 8pm KO live on Sky. A win and three points would take the Toon clear in 7th place in the table and a draw would take us to 8th.

Match Preview The stats from the cup game showed that Newcastle were the better team in all areas except the only two that really count; goals scored and goals conceded. Everton had three chances and scored from every one while Newcastle had more than three and missed all of them, other than Dan Burn's goal which was too late to give any chance of a comeback.

Not taking our chances and giving the oppo too many chances at the other end of the pitch has been the common theme that has frustrated fans all season, and Matthias Jaissle described some of our defending as "shocking" in his post match presser. Having said that I've got some sympathy for Dedic who, other than by name, got the brunt of MJ's wrath for attempting to play his way out of a defensive area only to see the ball rebound to Garner who swiftly planted it past Hornicek for the opening goal.

First, the direction of the ricochet was unlucky and, second, fans criticise defenders for aimlessly hoofing the ball clear when in exactly the same position Dedic was. Lewis Hall, for all his great performances this season, has been caught out more than once when trying to play himself out in similar positions and it was only because Dedic's mistake immediately led to a goal against the run of play that he got hammered.

Jaissle I am sure will have handed out rockets to a few in the dressing room and Dedic won't have been the only player getting one after all three goals were avoidable. I just hope the instruction in training over the past few days hasn't been to hoof it every time because, especially with Osula likely unavailable, the chances are that there will be no physical challenge and it will be a possession gift to Everton.

Other than the three goals they notched against us in the cup game, Everton have only averaged a goal a game in the PL but they have also only conceded nine with only three teams having conceded less. That points to a tight match this evening but if we can convert the possession and chances we had into goals then the Toon have every chance of climbing into 7th place.

Team News With Osula unlikely to start Jaissle's options are more a case of who replaces him and does he again play Schar and Burn and will Elanga start in place of Murphy. Some on the blog have speculated whether Jo should be played again as a ST to give us a physical presence but I think that option has well and truly flown.

So MJ has a choice between Wissa and Pardo with neither giving fans much confidence that they are up to the job. Unless Jaissle has seen something exceptional from one of the two in training, for me, it's almost down to the spin of a coin who starts.

£100M spent and spinning coins, it just tells you how bankrupt out attacking options are. Prediction Everton were nothing special on Thursday night and plenty in the media rated us the better team.