Newcastle United take on Everton at St. James’ Park this evening.
Pundit Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he thinks Newcastle United will draw 1-1 with Everton at St. James’ Park this evening.
The Magpies lost 3-2 at home to Leicester City on Saturday afternoon, meaning they have now lost six of their last seven Premier League games in what has been a torrid run of form.
Rafael Benitez’s men now lie just two points clear of the relegation zone, and their terrible form means that slipping into the bottom three is now a very real prospect.
Newcastle will have another chance to claim three points at home tonight, as they welcome former boss Sam Allardyce and his Everton side to St. James’ Park.
With a point at Liverpool on Sunday, new manager Allardyce has taken four points from his first two games in charge, and already looks to be steadying the ship at Goodison Park.
Allardyce now returns to Tyneside tonight in search of another positive result, hoping to pile on the misery for a downbeat Newcastle side who are searching for any kind of spark.
Ahead of tonight’s game, pundit Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he thinks the game will end in a 1-1 draw, with a point considered as ‘progress’ for Newcastle in Lawrenson’s eyes.
Lawrenson claims that he couldn’t find one Newcastle player who would get in the Leicester team on Saturday, summing up just how difficult Rafael Benitez’s job is right now in a damning analysis of the Magpies squad.
“You have got to give Everton credit for the way they stuck at it in Sunday’s Merseyside derby and ended up getting the draw that they came to Anfield for,” said Lawrenson. “When I was watching Newcastle’s defeat by Leicester, I sat there thinking which players from Newcastle’s starting XI would get into Leicester’s team. The answer was none of them would, which tells you a lot about what Magpies boss Rafa Benitez is up against there.”
“With the run that Newcastle are on, with just one point from their past seven games, getting anything from this game would represent a bit of progress. Everton have already achieved that since Sam Allardyce arrived at the end of November, on the back of a 4-0 win over a very poor West Ham side in David Unsworth’s final game as caretaker. The Toffees are unbeaten in four matches now in all competitions, and will have been lifted further by the way they got their point against Liverpool,” he added.
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