Callum Wilson scored a brace to help Newcastle produce one of the most comfortable football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. Joelinton and Jacob Murphy, who were both key players in Sunday’s 6-1 hammering of Tottenham, added to their individual tally as Callum Wilson maintained his hot streak with two goals to put the hosts out of their misery. It was another depressing night for the Blues. For 28 minutes, Eddie Howe’s team withstood the anticipated storm before scoring on their first meaningful attempt. Wilson scored against Everton for his eighth goal in six games after Joelinton broke through on the left and sent in a cross that Jordan Pickford parried to him.
The hosts believed they had equalized on the final play of the half when Dominic Calvert-Lewin pounced on a feed from Dwight McNeil, but VAR disallowed his lofted effort over Nick Pope for offside. When Alexander Isak made a mesmerizing single run, McNeil’s straight shot for a corner gave Everton a glimmer of hope at 3-1, but 22 seconds after the restart, Murphy was there for a simple finish. With a game remaining, the outcome takes Newcastle up to third position with 62 points, eight points clear of Aston Villa in fifth. Everton lost at home for the eighth time this season, keeping them in 19th place with five games left and two points outside of safety.
Everton hopes to continue its 69-year stay in England’s top flight, but the club is dealing with its worst crisis since being demoted in 1951. Idrissa Gueye had two early efforts from a distance that Pope carefully observed, while Alex Iwobi curled another attempt off-target. Newcastle, though, absorbed the initial pressure and pounced in a methodical manner. The Brazilian forward Joelinton was sent on a quick, driving run down the left before he skipped around Ben Godfrey and fired at Pickford. James Tarkowski was hit by the rebound of the England goalkeeper’s parry, which landed pleasantly for Wilson to get to in front of Vitalii Mykolenko for a raised finish.
The hosts picked themselves up and kept taking the battle to Newcastle. The linesman’s flag prevented Calvert-Lewin, who was making only his 10th start of the season, from scoring an equalizer. The VAR lines were drawn as Goodison held its breath, as replays revealed that the striker’s shoulder was only inches in front of Sven Botman. Everton knew going into the second half that they had only won one of their 18 Premier League games this season in which they had given up first. They came dangerously close to doing so just a minute into the second half when Joelinton fed Joe Willock down the left channel, and Tarkowski expertly cleared his shot off the line.
After Iwobi’s ball was pushed away by the Newcastle custodian, Calvert-Lewin picked up the fight with Pope again. When Sean Longstaff was caught by Tarkowski after the ball had been put on the byline, the visitors thought they had a case for a penalty. However, Everton’s relief was fleeting as the visitors quickly doubled their advantage. The resurgent midfielder raced by Godfrey down the left to set up Joelinton for a straightforward downward header into the far corner after Willock had already forced a magnificent save from Pickford after setting himself up for a dipping shot on the outside of the area.
Newcastle was celebrating a third goal two minutes and 23 seconds later as Everton’s fragile confidence was eroded. With the freedom of Goodison Park, Bruno Guimaraes surged forward unimpeded and set up Wilson for a beautiful finish high into the goal past Pickford. Everton was already defeated, but they needed to display courage. When McNeil’s corner kick missed Doucoure at the near post and instead reached the back of the net, he almost comically cut the deficit.
Everton, however, soon destroyed any chance of a late comeback as Isak led Godfrey, Gueye, and Michael Keane on a joyous dance along the byline before finding Murphy on the goal line for Newcastle’s fourth. This has been Everton’s miserable season. In stoppage time, Fabian Schar believed he had scored a beautiful fifth goal, but it was brutally disallowed for offside against Dan Burn in the build-up, and Murphy missed another opportunity at the very end. It served as adequate punishment. Many members of the home crowd had already left after having enough.
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