Everton boast just one victory from their last 11 Premier League outings, including three lacklustre defeats against clubs (Watford, Brentford, Crystal Palace) that join them and Newcastle in the bottom-half of the table at the start of this round.
Everton
Everton have been gradually falling closer to Newcastle United and the relegation zone throughout the last two months, suffering from some extensively poor Premier League form. They boast just one victory from their last 11 Premier League outings, including three lacklustre defeats against clubs (Watford, Brentford, Crystal Palace) that join them and Newcastle in the bottom-half of the table at the start of this round. That said, they’ve won three of their four Premier League assignments as a pre-match favourite this campaign, so Everton may relish the expectations placed upon them again here when the devastatingly-undermanned ‘Magpies’ visit Goodison Park. It may even be a great opportunity to secure just their second clean sheet since the start of October, the point when their campaign began to go horribly wrong.
Newcastle
Considering their bench consisted of two goalkeepers and an array of youth team players due to a slew of COVID-19 cases, Newcastle’s 1-1 draw against Manchester United last time out was an outstanding effort. Crucially, their only two players to have scored in multiple Premier League appearances this season, Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin, both left the match early with injury concerns thus, their depth will be intensely examined here. With that in mind, their chances of replicating their two league defeats of Everton last season (2-1 at home and 2-0 away) appear remote. They can draw confidence from the fact that Wilson and Saint-Maximin have combined for just one of their six Premier League away goals this season, so they may not be as bereft of goalscoring options as some may suggest.
After accounting for injuries and illness, Dominic Calvert-Lewin could be the only Everton starter to have scored in at least three Premier League fixtures this season. When excluding Wilson, centre-back Fabian Schar was the last remaining member of Newcastle’s squad to score for the club against Everton – in their final game of the 2019 calendar year! Newcastle have completed 30 consecutive Premier League fixtures without a 0-0 draw.