LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 5: Jordan Pickford of Everton and Anthony Gordon of Newcastle United during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Newcastle United FC at Goodison Park on October 5, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Jordan Pickford and Anthony Gordon during the Premier League match between Everton and Newcastle United at Goodison Park on October 5, 2024
Another Everton season draws to a close today. The Blues complete their Premier League campaign with a trip to St James' Park to take on Newcastle United (4pm kick-off)
It is a match the Magpies dare not lose if they are secure Champions League qualification. For Everton, they have nothing but pride to play for.
That could work in their favour and the travelling Blues would like nothing more than to see their side spoil what could be a major Newcastle party. Or having got the win manager David Moyes badly wanted in last weekend's emotional Goodison Park farewell, perhaps the players will be on the beach.
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We will see. But here's how our writers believe Everton manager Moyes should go with his starting line-up...
Chris Beesley
Unlike their hosts Newcastle United, who can move from fourth to third or drop as low as seventh depending on results on the final day, Everton are now locked into 13th place, and given where they were when David Moyes first came back, that’s quite an accomplishment.
Indeed, realistically it’s probably a high as they could have got and in doing so they have also finished above a couple of the 'big six', Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, plus their manager’s big-spending previous employers, West Ham United.
I’d therefore try and pick a team that looks to the future at St James’ Park but injuries have scuppered that somewhat, particularly with the revelation from Moyes that Tim Iroegbunam, who would have been one of the prime candidates to come into the side, has been ruled out with an adductor injury.
Abdoulaye Doucoure confirmed he won’t be with the Blues next season, so Carlos Alcaraz is restored to the starting line-up to give the manager one more opportunity to show what he can do before he weighs up whether to turn his loan move from Flamengo into a permanent switch.
With captain Seamus Coleman ruled out at right-back, Nathan Patterson gets another chance ahead of Ashley Young who is also on his way.
That might also be the case for Michael Keane, but he has to partner Jake O’Brien in the heart of defence because of Jarrad Branthwaite’s injury.
My team (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Patterson, O’Brien, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner; McNeil, Alcaraz, Ndiaye; Beto.
Paul Wheelock
I cannot have been the only person to have looked at this fixture earlier in the season with a feeling of dread. It certainly crossed my mind that Everton would need to pick up a positive result at St James' Park to survive the drop.
But those fears were misplaced and effectively banished within weeks of David Moyes' return. So much so that the Blues, unlike their Champions League-chasing opponents, can play without pressure having long secured their safety and having sewn up 13th place with a game to go.
What, then, is Moyes to do? His first decision can be giving Jordan Pickford the afternoon off. The England goalkeeper has enjoyed another superb season, which included a brilliant penalty save to deny the goal Anthony Gordon desperately craved in the return fixture at Goodison Park.
That rammed the taunts of the travelling Magpies down their throats but expect more Geordie vitriol to rain down from the stands if Pickford starts. Especially after his beloved Sunderland won promotion back to the Premier League on Saturday.
So with nothing riding on the match from the Blues' perspective, Joao Virginia is handed his final appearance for the club.
The same applies to Ashley Young and Abdoulaye Doucoure, potentially Michael Keane, and but hopefully not Idrissa Gueye.
The rest of the Everton line-up will comprise of players whose contracts do run longer than the end of the season - albeit with injuries kicking in, there's not many.
My team (4-2-3-1): Virginia; Patterson, O’Brien, Keane, Mykolenko,; Gueye, Garner; McNeil, Doucoure, Ndiaye; Beto.