Our Everton writers select their starting line-up for Saturday's Premier League clash with Newcastle United at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Charly Alcaraz during the match between Manchester City and Everton at the Etihad Stadium on October 18, 2025
Charly Alcaraz during the match between Manchester City and Everton at the Etihad Stadium on October 18, 2025
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Everton will look to make it three victories on the run this evening when they take on Newcastle United at Hill Dickinson Stadium (5.30pm). The Blues should be full of confidence.
They produced an heroic performance to win 1-0 at Manchester United Monday night, which built on the morale-boosting 2-0 triumph at home to Fulham before the international break.
The long-awaited victory at Old Trafford was made all the more impressive by the fact that it was achieved with 10 men after Idrissa Gueye was sent off for fighting with team-mate Michael Keane.
The red card means Gueye will miss the clash with a Newcastle side who are still searching for their first away win of the Premier League season.
Let's hope that doesn't come today. But who should David Moyes bring in for Gueye? Who will start at right-back after the injury to Seamus Coleman? And should the Everton boss make any further changes?
Our writers have their say...
Joe Thomas
Idrissa Gueye’s red card was problematic for a host of different reasons. One of the most significant is its impact on the Everton squad for a week of very difficult games.
The next seven days were always going to be tough. Bournemouth is a place of misery for modern Everton while Nottingham Forest are resurgent and their visit to Hill Dickinson Stadium will mark Sean Dyche’s first return to the club he managed for almost two years.
Newcastle United, meanwhile, overcame Manchester City last week and, while they threw away a lead at Marseille in the Champions League in midweek, they have a strong squad.
It is strongest in central midfield and the Blues were always likely to struggle against Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali given Moyes’ paucity of options in the middle.
Had Gueye been available then Everton would have stood a chance at combating that partnership. They still do. But their work will be cut out in the absence of the Senegal international.
The most obvious beneficiary is Tim Iroegbunam, who started against Fulham and did well in that game. He has also had good cameos either side of that win, useful off the bench in the draw at Sunderland and then the win at Manchester United.
I like the idea of playing Carlos Alcaraz in the middle - a role he played well in the win at Crystal Palace last season - but think Iroegbunam has to have the first opportunity to impress in his natural position.
I would ask Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to sit much deeper, which I thought he did well after the red card on Monday.
At right-back, I think Jake O’Brien is the only real option and his size and physicality will certainly be useful in both boxes.
My team (4-5-1): Pickford; O'Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall, Garner, Iroegbunam, Grealish; Barry.
Chris Beesley
There are two enforced changes that Everton manager David Moyes must make against Newcastle United following the 1-0 win at Old Trafford, but whereas one might seem straightforward, I’d go bold with the other.
Seamus Coleman was hailed as being “the best man I’ve ever met” by Frank Lampard and with his fabled ‘sixty grand’ fee when plucked from Sligo Rovers , e is pound-for-pound arguably the best bargain buy in Premier League history. The Republic of Ireland international has played more games in the competition than anyone else in Blues’ history and his brief outing against Manchester United moved him level with Leon Osman and Dixie Dean in the club’s all-time top 10 with 433 appearances. But at 37 he lamentably no longer can be depended upon to stay injury free.
Just as he did against the Red Devils, Coleman’s compatriot Jake O’Brien slots seamlessly back in the right-back slot. When it comes to replacing the suspended Idrissa Gueye in central midfield, Tim Iroegbunam is the most obvious fit and the selection I suspect Moyes will go for but personally I would be a bit more attack-minded.
Match-winner Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall showed against Ruben Amorim’s side that as well as having a wicked shot on him with his weaker right foot, he can also operate deeper, alongside James Garner and I’d retain him there, bringing in Charly Alcaraz – whose header defeated the Magpies at St James’ Park the last time these sides met – to be deployed in what seems to be his favoured number 10 role.
My team (4-2-3-1): Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Garner, Dewsbury-Hall; Ndiaye, Alcaraz, Grealish; Barry.