Newcastle United will entertain Everton at St. James’ Park on Sunday afternoon as both sides look to fight tooth and nail in search of the three points. The Magpies were held to a 1-1 draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend while the Toffees suffered an unexpected 2-0 loss away at Southampton ahead of this crucial showdown at Tyneside.
Talking Tactics
Steve Bruce has got a lot of injury concerns to cope with at the moment. Hence, the Magpies head coach will probably opt for a 4-4-2 formation as he instructs his players to catch Everton off-guard using the pace of Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson up top.
Carlo Ancelotti is expected to stick to his favoured 4-3-3 formation but will be without the services of Richarlison and Lucas Digne due to suspension. The Toffees might be less adventurous than usual as they do not have too many creative players on the field.
Team News
Newcastle United
Ciaran Clark, Paul Dummett and Sean Longstaff are all major concerns ahead of this upcoming encounter in the Premier League. Jamaal Lascelles is also a significant doubt and will be in a race against time to be fit for this game.
Newcastle United Predicted XI
Karl Darlow, Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles, Federico Fernandez, Jamal Lewis, Ryan Fraser, Jeff Hendrick, Sean Longstaff, Miguel Almiron, Allan Saint-Maximin, Callum Wilson
Everton
Seamus Coleman, Mason Holgate and Jean-Philippe Gbamin remain sidelined because of injury. James Rodriguez has picked up a muscle injury and is set to miss this exciting league clash away at Tyneside.
Everton Predicted XI
Jordan Pickford, Ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina, Michael Keane, Fabian Delph, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Allan, Andre Gomes, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Alex Iwobi
Key Men
Newcastle United
Callum Wilson will be Bruce’s best hope for a goal on Sunday as he has already scored four goals for the Magpies in the Premier League thus far. Karl Darlow can expect a busy afternoon and will try to stop Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin from finding the back of the net during the 90 minutes.
Everton
Calvert-Lewin will once again carry most of the goal-scoring workload for his side, so his performance could end up determining the fate of this league clash. Yerry Mina and Michael Keane will also need to have a solid game at the back if the visitors are to come away with a positive result this weekend.
Odds
The Merseyside outfit are the slight 21/20 favourites to pick up maximum points at St. James’ Park. The draw has been listed at 5/2, while the Magpies are 13/5 underdogs to secure a win at home.
