Paul Merson predicts result of Everton vs Newcastle on Wednesday
Paul Merson has predicted Everton will lose a third game on the bounce when they travel to St James’ Park on Wednesday evening.
The Sky Sports pundit feels that the Toffees should have taken something from the 2-0 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday (16 October) where they had a couple of glorious chances to take the lead through Demarai Gray and Amadou Onana in the first half.
But while he accepts they were unlucky he thinks they will go down by the same scoreline on 19 October against a Magpies side who played out a goalless draw with Manchester United at the weekend and haven’t lost since the end of August.
Writing in his predictions column for Sportskeeda he said: “I thought Everton were a bit unlucky last week. They went to Tottenham with a gameplan, but you’ve got to make it count. You can’t have the chances they had and then miss them.
“You’re not going to get too many chances in an away game, and Everton should’ve scored in my opinion.
“I do like what Everton are doing at the moment, but they’ve got to put their chances away. Newcastle have played well under Eddie Howe and should be able to win this game.”
Rough
There is every chance that following an increasingly encouraging six-game unbeaten run Everton could come out of a difficult stretch of three matches against Manchester United, Tottenham and Newcastle, having lost each one.
And yet it was only two mistakes in the midfield that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and company win by the odd goal, despite the Toffees being well short of their best, and then a strong showing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was undone by poor finishing and an error that gave away an iffy penalty to Harry Kane.
It is probably a positive sign that it feels so frustrating for Evertonians to be coming out of these games with nothing when there were times last season where simply avoiding a thrashing would have felt like a relief.
Frank Lampard’s side are still a work in progress so there will have to be peaks and troughs through the campaign, but there is still enough to be positive about.
Should the same side that weathered the Spurs storm in the first half, and really should have two up at the break, arrive in the north east then there is every chance of a result still.
But the errors that have undercut some of the recent outings will have to be cut out, and they will need to get a good showing from Anthony Gordon, who should be back in the side after suspension, to boost their chances.