Newcastle United face Everton at St James' Park for the second Premier League game of three in eight days after gaining a valuable point against Man United which was the minimum that Eddie Howe's men deserved from a spirited performance in a 0-0 draw:

Summer signing Sven Botman has been earning rave reviews at the heart of as solid a defensive performance produced by The Magpies for years at Old Trafford, a ground at which Newcastle have endured several big defeats in recent seasons, and the Dutch defender earns special praise from manager Eddie Howe:

In a refreshing change from the recent norm at Neewcastle, Eddie Howe's men have the best defence in The Premier League conceding only nine times so far this season:

The Magpies came out of the game believing they could have won all three points had Callum Wilson's stonewall penalty appeal not been turned down by on-pitch referee Craig Pawson nor his mistake corrected by VAR Jarred Gillett:

to the astonishment to football pundits as one with Martin Keown on Match of the Day calling the incident "the worst decision of the weekend" and Danny Mills in the SKY Sports Refwatch studio labelling it "the most blatant penalty I've ever seen":

It was the first in series of controversial incidents but Man United and Ronaldo's desperation to have a goal he illegally scored count by attempting to highjack a Newcastle indirect free kick showed how far the mighty have fallen with the RefWatch panel unanimously agreeing it was clearly no goal:

Next up for Newcastle is Everton, who are currently in 14th spot in The Premier League with 10 points and Frank Lampard's men have five less than Eddie Howe's side following an away loss to Spurs 2-0 at the weekend after a Jordan Pickford fumble allowed England Captain Harry Kane to win a penalty from his Three Lions teammate:

Everton have made a decent start to the season especially defensively since the summer signings of James Tarkowski from Burnley & Conor Coady from Wolves and having conceded 11 goals, have the sixth best defence in the Premier League after the big five best defences led by Newcastle yet familiar woes in front of goal means The Toffees have only scored eight goals in ten top flight games after the loss of Richarlison in the summer and a seemingly constant injury concerns around Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

In his presser, Frank Lampard, who welcomes winger Anthony Gordon back from a one-man suspension, gave an injury update confirming Calvert-Lewin, Mason Holgate and Ben Godfrey would all be fit for the trip to St James' Park but said his star striker would be carefully managed during the three games in 8 days:

And the Toffees boss spoke of the need to "respect" Newcastle:

One interesting stat from the game is that The Magpies had 15 points last season when they played Everton at St James' Park like they have 15 points now with a major difference being Wednesday night's game is just the 11th game of the current season while last year it was the 22nd game of the season when the two sides met.

Last year, Eddie Howe's men ran out 3-1 winners at St James' Park with the icing put on the cake thanks to a terrific Kieran Trippier free-kick that caught out Everton keeper Pickford, whose Sunderland roots seem to compel him to have a meltdown on the pitch whenever he plays against the local rivals of his beloved Black Cats. It was a victory that lifted Newcastle out of the relegation zone but a win tomorrow night will keep Newcastle firmly in the hunt for European qualification.

Pickford is still nailed on to start The World Cup for England next month in Qatar after Nick Pope didn't cover himself in glory in his Wembley audition against Germany in The Nations League but the Sunderland-born keeper who has never made a mistake leading to a goal for The Three Lions is almost guaranteed an error at St James' Park.

Newcastle will still be without the services of stars Allan Saint-Maximin & Alexander Isak due to prolonged injuries but one man Eddie Howe will soon be able to call on in The Magpies' bid for European football is the returning JonJo Shelvey with Howe saying this about his Playmaker-in-Chief who has missed the whole season so far:

"He's at the very early stages of being fit and available so I didn't want to risk him at all. It's a very cautious approach with him at the moment.
"So we might not see him have an effect in the team short-term but certainly with more training and more building of his fitness levels, he's got a bit part to play in the coming weeks."

In his pre-match presser, Howe gave an injury update speaking about Fabian Schar's foot problem which should be "fine" for the match:

and that Allan Saint-Maximin will play before The World Cup play although record signing Alexander Isak is doubtful to play again until play resumes in January:

Howe paid tribute to Newcastle's best defensive record in the Premier League status:

and paid tribute to Everton's progress as well particularly at the back since last season:

Nevertheless, Newcastle should be too strong for their visitors from Merseyside and will kick on towards those European positions with another win and three points.

Prediction - Newcastle 2 Everton 1

Potential Teams: