Still unbeaten Everton leapfrogged Chelsea to go fourth in the table courtesy of Romelu Lukaku, who scored two goals and made the other. It is a good thing José Mourinho is a calmer, more mature manager these days, otherwise he might be getting fed up with questions about players who are not available for selection.
Everton were good value for this victory, which could easily have been by a wider margin, though in truth they were playing a poor team.
The home side got off to a blistering start, though against opponents as accommodating as Newcastle, most teams would. Lukaku had the ball in the net after just over a minute, only to be recalled for offside, and Kevin Mirallas began the game successfully finding space to run into down the right ahead of Seamus Coleman.
It was only a matter of time before the two Belgians combined, and they did so to good effect in the fifth minute. Mirallas broke purposefully down the right, looked up to see where Lukaku wanted the ball, and played a low cross to perfection. Lukaku connected with a swing of his right foot for a first-time shot that proved too powerful for Tim Krul to keep out.
After Ross Barkley had sent a sweetly-struck drive narrowly wide Coleman was the next to break down the right, chasing a Lukaku pass with such tenacity that not even Newcastle tugs at his shirt prevented him from getting into shooting range and forcing a corner. When the ball was cleared out to him the full-back sent a rising shot embarrassingly high into the Park end, but Everton were clearly on top and emphasised the fact with an elegant second goal midway through the first half.
This time Lukaku was the creator, fastening onto to a headed clearance and biding his time before cheekily slipping an inch-perfect pass behind Fabricio Coloccini for Barkley to run on to and score without breaking stride.
Newcastle were not having one of their better days, that much was already clear, though once again one had to ponder the wisdom of Chelsea letting Lukaku out on loan when they appear to be struggling for attacking invention. Everton overtook Chelsea in the table as a result of this win, joining Liverpool in the top four. There is still plenty of the season left for early impressions to change, though it cannot have escaped the notice of someone at Stamford Bridge that the top of the table might look completely different were Lukaku and Daniel Sturridge playing in London and not Liverpool.
Lukaku helped himself to another goal before the interval, or rather he was made a present of one by some extremely unconvincing Newcastle defending. Tim Howard's gigantic upfield clearance made it all the way into the opposite penalty area, yet even so Coloccini and Krul were in a position to deal with it.
Possibly unnerved by the presence of Lukaku they both failed to take control, leaving the Chelsea loanee to bring the ball down adroitly and step disdainfully around Coloccini's despairing attempt to recover the situation. It looked as though the Newcastle captain was in for a long night, yet though he will not fancy facing Lukaku again in a hurry, he stuck at his task and managed to come out on top in a couple 50-50 challenges with the striker before the interval.
Hatem Ben Arfa brought a save from Howard with a snap-shot on the stroke of the interval, which counted as Newcastle's first attack of any note. Ben Arfa was one of their better players when he was on the ball, which was rarely, and Davide Santon also had his moments. As a team, however, Newcastle were all but non-existent. Playing opponents this flimsy, Everton could stay unbeaten until Christmas.
Yohan Cabaye came on for the second half and immediately gave the Newcastle supporters something to cheer, finding Howard's top corner with a stunning right-foot curler from 25 yards out. It was quite a goal, but as Newcastle had missed an even easier chance seconds earlier it only appeared likely to count as consolation. Played through cleanly by Vurnon Anita, Yoan Gouffran saw his shot come back off a post when he only had Howard to beat.
Newcastle had to be content with showing more fight in the second half, salvaging a little self-respect by making the game more of a contest. Loïc Rémy scored in the 89th minute to set up a tense last few minutes, but the damage had been done by their doormat impression in the first period. Not only did Everton fail to manage any more goals, Lukaku missed his chance of a hat-trick with a wild stab that went miles over the bar.
Mourinho can breathe a little more easily. He is not quite the finished product after all.
via Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com http://feeds.theguardian.com/c/34708/f/663845/s/31e4c441/sc/13/l/0L0Stheguardian0N0Cfootball0C20A130Csep0C30A0Ceverton0Enewcastle0Eunited0Ematch0Ereport/story01.htm
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