
Everton welcome Newcastle to Goodison Park for one final time in the Premier League, with both sides looking to build on positive results last time out.
After a miserable run of form which saw both Aston Villa and Bournemouth come from behind to beat Everton, Sean Dyche's side have started to pick up some key points. A 1-1 draw against relegation rivals Leicester on the road stopped the losing run, before a strong 2-1 win vs Crystal Palace saw the Toffees win their first game of the season.
There's still plenty of work to be done for the Toffees, but they will now feel as though they have a platform to build on as they attempt to claw themselves away from the bottom three.
Newcastle also head into this fixture on the back of a victory, having knocked AFC Wimbledon out of the EFL Trophy. Prior to that, they secured a well earned point against Pep Guardiola's Man City, and have lost just one of their six Premier League matches to date.
That loss did come on the road against Fulham, but the Toon army have rallied to rescue points from losing positions in their other tow away matches against Wolves and Bournemouth. If Eddie Howe's side fall behind, they've been quick to react.
One of the main reasons why Everton are capable of staying up is down to Dwight McNeil. The 24-year-old's brace helped them secure their first win of the season, who has been one of their more capable players this campaign. The winger scored against Doncaster in the EFL Cup, as well as against Aston Villa mid-September.
Dominic Calvert-Lewis is Everton's main target man, who has contributed with two goals this season against Bournemouth and Aston Villa, but it's all about keeping him fit. If Dyche can keep him away from the physio room, Everton might be strong enough to keep out of the bottom three come the end of the season.
Last year, Everton won this fixture rather comfortably (3-0), and McNeil found himself on the scoresheet on that occasion, and it's up to Howe to find a way to stifle their main men on Saturday evening.
Aside from their 3-1 defeat to Fulham, it has been a much better start to the campaign for Newcastle than many had anticipated. A key win over Tottenham at St James' Park stands out, as does their point against Man City. Not many will travel up North and return with points, that's for sure.
But this is their first game on the road since that Fulham defeat, and Howe will be hoping his players will be more switched on this time round. They've gone behind first in four of their six Premier League matches, and although they've come back in three of those games, it isn't sustainable long term.
The ambition is for Newcastle to return to the Champions League, and they've started strongly. If they can score first at Goodison on Saturday, they can silence the crowd and add another three points to their tally.
With Newcastle conceding first regularly, but with Everton unable to hold onto leads, this could be a fine game for the neutral and goals are at the centre of our prediction this week.
Everton may have improved in their match, but they've now thrown away valuable points when taking the lead against Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Leicester City. No doubt Dyche is working hard to make his players more resilient, but they come up against a team who are also highly capable of coming back from behind.
In the league, Newcastle have kept just one clean sheet, which came against struggling Southampton in the opening round. Everton are yet to keep a single clean sheet, having only kept Doncaster out in the EFL Cup. Both defences have proven to be vulnerable, and against quality attacking players, are looking likely to be carved open once more.
We've spoke about McNeil and Calvert-Lewin for the hosts, but Newcastle's attacking talent such as Alexander Isak, Harvey Barnes and ex-Everton winger Anthony Gordon, will certainly cause issues.
Therefore, our proposed bet in this Premier League fixture is both teams to score and over 2.5 goals at 5/6 with bet365. We landed both of our NAPs last weekend, so good luck if you tail our main pick once again.
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