Eddie Howe welcomed five new signings to Tyneside last month but, impressively as three of them performed here, Newcastle’s manager received a reminder that a player he inherited remains the brightest light in his attacking firmament.
Allan Saint-Maximin’s extraordinary powers of improvisation and incision turned Frank Lampard’s Premier League debut as Everton manager into a deeply uncomfortable experience which leaves his new side balanced precariously on the edge of real relegation trouble.
Thanks not only to Saint Maximin’s deconstruction of the visiting defence but excellent displays from Howe’s new full-backs, the outstanding Kieran Trippier and Matt Targett, Newcastle won their third game of the season, hauling themselves out of the bottom three and up to 17th. Ominously for Lampard, Everton sit one point and one place higher.
If it will not be lost on Rafael Benítez’s successor that Newcastle are likely to improve, quite possibly significantly, once Bruno Guimarães and Dan Burn are also assimilated into the first XI, Lampard could have done without losing Yerry Mina and Demarai Gray to first-half injuries.
“To lose two big players made it hard for us,” said Everton’s manager, who saw his deadline‑day arrival from Tottenham, Dele Alli, replace Gray to disappointingly little effect.
“You could see how quickly the confidence went down. There’s no magic wand but the work starts now. The players have to believe in what I’m doing; we must not let our heads drop.”
Howe had rivalled Lampard for Alli’s signature but St James’ Park was much more excited by the sight of one player he did succeed in securing warming up. As Guimarães, a £33.3m Brazil international bought from Lyon, was serenaded with chants of “Bruno, Bruno,” the scoring began, with two own goals registered in swift succession. First Jonjo Shelvey hacked down the promisingly inventive Anthony Gordon, one of Everton’s better individuals, conceding a free‑kick. Gordon took it himself and, when Alli redirected the fallout back into the box, Mason Holgate’s shot was blocked on the line by Fabian Schär only to end up deflecting in off Jamaal Lascelles.
Newcastle’s crestfallen captain looked broken but redemption beckoned. When Joe Willock won a corner, Trippier delivered a defence‑deceiving dead ball and, although Lascelles’s header hit the bar, it rebounded off Holgate before flying past Jordan Pickford. Had the £13m Burn not been restricted to the bench by an infected toe, Lascelles might not have started but, seizing this possible reprieve, he enjoyed one of his best games of the season.
Everton were seriously weakened by a 35th‑minute injury to Mina with the right‑sided component of Lampard’s back three hobbling off. Jarrad Branthwaite trotted on but his lack of experience showed as Chris Wood was allowed a free header.
Despite Newcastle’s new £25m centre‑forward directing it benignly straight at Pickford, it was not long before Saint-Maximin crossed with menace. The unmarked Joelinton would surely have scored had he not got his feet in an awful tangle and ended up getting hit on the head by his own shot.
No matter, Newcastle scored 10 minutes into the new half. This time Alli’s forfeiture of possession prefaced another cross from Saint‑Maximin and, when Michael Keane’s failure to make a headed clearance left Pickford stranded, Ryan Fraser hooked the dropping ball home.
As an adrenaline suffused Howe swivelled on his heels, pumped his fists and urged Newcastle fans to “come on”, those home supporters yet again had reason to be grateful to Saint-Maximin. The French winger’s adhesive control in the tightest of areas had conjured Fraser’s first league goal in a Newcastle shirt and, for all that £90m plus January transfer spend, he remains the player most integral to his side’s survival chances.
By the 60th minute Lampard had used all his substitutes. Delighted as the “free Donny” campaigners must have been to see Van de Beek finally stripped for action as André Gomes’s replacement, the Manchester United loanee could have chosen an easier game in which to make his Everton debut. After months of being overlooked at Old Trafford he was hurled into the deep end of a midfield war zone in which every 50/50 ball was contested with the utmost ferocity.
Shortly after Wood – by now worrying Lampard’s backline – had a “goal” disallowed for offside, Fraser created the third when his rapid dribble was rudely interrupted by Allan’s crude lunge and a 25‑yard free‑kick awarded.
Howe says he bought Trippier from Atlético Madrid last month as much for his crossing and set‑piece abilities as his defensive qualities. Sure enough the England right‑back vindicated such judgment by spotting a chink in Everton’s wall and his dead‑ball technique did the rest.
After Trippier’s sumptuously curving free‑kick hit the back of the net all that remained was for Guimarães to make a rapturously received 90th‑minute debut. “It’s a big win and a second consecutive win,” Howe said. “We’re in a better place but we cannot get ahead of ourselves.”
