Soccer / jordan pickford

Newcastle United face Everton at Goodison Park in the 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday afternoon hoping to complete a home & away Premier League double of wins over The Toffees that would be a shot in the arm to spirits at the St James' Park club. A 2-1 win against a high-flying Everton at the start of November thanks to a brace from Callum Wilson cemented The Magpies' good start to the campaign and had them comfortably mid-table looking up.. ..the table but a bad run of form precipitated by the Covid-19 outbreak a month later means Newcastle have slipped down the table and are looking over their shoulders. A 2-1 defeat by Leeds United at St James' Park on Tuesday night means Newcastle are 6 points above 18th-placed Fulham yet need to stop the rot ASAP with that first win since a 2-1 victory over West Brom on December 12th although will be encouraged by that second half performance that saw Miguel Almiron score his 11th goal for the club: Almiron celebrated by stuffing the ball up his shirt to celebrate his wife's pregnancy as he became only the second Paraguayan in Premier League history to score double figures after Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz achieved the feat with 33 total goals. Former Everton no. 2 coach Graeme Jones linked up with The Magpies squad for the first time this week and should have some insight into one of his former club's after spending 2013-2016 there under Roberto Martinez and as a Geordie through & through, he couldn't hide his delight at joining the club he, his late father & all his family support: "I first came here as a 5 year-old watching Supermac in 1974-74 with my Dad.. I'm sure he'd be the proudest man in the world, it was his whole life... Professionally now, I want to take those emotions and use them and the frustrations the club have had in 50 years of my lifetime about not winning anything I'm from the school of 'Anything is Possible. If Wigan Athletic can win an FA Cup, Newcastle United can At Everton we took them to their record points total in The Premier League - 72 - and finished 5th...we then had a year in the Europa League and the year after that we got to both domestic Cup finals and got beat off Man City and Man United... I'm here to do the best I can for Newcastle United Football Club." Bruce welcomed him to the club and revealed its been a move mooted ever since The Corona Virus outbreak at the club laid coaching staff and players low in December: Everton come into Saturday's clash on the back of a 1-1 draw against Leicester on Wednesday night when James Rodriquez - who missed the early season game against Newcastle at St. James' Park through injury - scored a great if rare right-footed goal that was equalised by a shot from Youri Tielemans that slipped through Jordan Pickford's hands in front of watching England manager Gareth Southgate. Whether Carlo Ancelotti will risk Sunderland-born Pickford in a game in which he has been wound up in the past against his boyhood team's local rivals or drop him for Robin Olsen like he did at St. James' Park is the Italian manager's biggest selection dilemma but penalty-saving specialist Pickford could only look on as Callum Wilson wrapped up the game from the spot in November. Ancelotti said this in his presser about Pickford: “I’m not in the habit of giving out the line-up during the press conference. “Pickford didn’t play against Newcastle for normal rotation that I am used to doing in this period. We have a lot of games; we have to play tomorrow, next Wed, next weekend, so Jordan will be rotated like the other players. “I don’t know [if Pickford starts tomorrow]. I have to think about this. “He made a mistake - I think we can say this - but this doesn’t change, for me or his team mates, the confidence we have in him." And after confirming Everton have no further injuries, Ancelotti expanded on the match ahead and said he feels "sympathy as a man" for opposite number Steve Bruce, "who has the experience to turn the situation around" and joked that all managers are "under pressure" and advised the recently-sacked former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard "to get used to it" such is the ruthless nature of managerial life. Newcastle will have to be on their guard from set-pieces with Ancelotti emphasizing that he has fantastic headers of the ball in Mina, Keane and Calvert-Lewis who benefit from the expert delivery from Rodriquez and Gilfi Sigurdsson. In his pre-match presser, Steve Bruce revealed that Ciaran Clark and Paul Dummett have returned to training although Saturday may come too early for them and he was gratified that Ryan Fraser played an hour against Leeds and Saint-Maximin half an hour as two of Newcastle's main attacking weapons return to match fitness which will be crucial and took some confidence and positivity from that early season win against Everton: Whether Allan Saint-Maximin will be risked from the start remains to be seen with back-to-back very winnable home games coming up for The Magpies next week. Last season, Newcastle drew 2-2 with Everton after an astonishing comeback in the very last minute due to the unlikeliest of braces from defender Florian Lejeune & Bruce will know lightning rarely strike twice and not to go behind against Everton if possible. Yet a Magpies win could have the same galvanizing effect on Newcastle's season and its not in Bruce's nature or his Newcastle side to do anything except fight to the death so don't rule out another late win or point salvage to change the mood at the club. Prediction - Newcastle 2 Everton 1 Potential Line-Ups: