(Football news) The Toffees defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0 on the road on Saturday, but shortly after, the Magpies defeated Manchester United 1-0 at home.
Everton rallied to gain three crucial points over Forest last weekend after a miserable end to November that saw the team docked ten points by the Premier League for financial issues and suffer a crushing 3-0 home loss to Man United.
The Toffees won their fifth league game of the season and their third straight away from home thanks to a fantastic goal from Dwight McNeil in the second half. It was also their first goal of the season. The victory moved them up to 18th place, just three points behind 17th-place Luton, who lost 4-3 to Arsenal on Tuesday.
With three of their next four games at Goodison Park, where they have, somewhat surprisingly, only managed to pick up four of their 17 Premier League points so far this season, Sean Dyche referred to Everton’s victory over Forest as a “restart” for the team as they prepare for a busy festive schedule of seven matches to end 2023.
Since Everton has lost five of its last six Premier League encounters with Newcastle, they have actually won just two of their previous 12 home games under Dyche—both against Bournemouth. As a result, Everton’s chances of earning maximum points on Thursday are quite limited.
In addition, Dyche’s team has lost its previous four midweek games and given up four goals in each of their previous three such games, including a crushing 4-1 loss at home to the Magpies in April.
Newcastle United, despite their injury woes, may be proud of their recent eight-day winning streak. They won the Premier League over Chelsea and Manchester United, and they also earned maximum points at Paris Saint-Germain in a contentious Champions League match.
With his most recent goal in the second half of last Saturday’s narrow victory over the Red Devils at St. James’ Park, Anthony Gordon raised his goal total to seven since joining the team from Thursday’s opponents Everton in January. Gordon was on the scoresheet in both of those victories in the top flight.
