Newcastle bashed down the doors of this new footballing cathedral and, with a pugilistic spirit reminiscent of a certain Idrissa Gana Gueye, emptied its pews long before the service ended.
Who knew Toon could party on their travels? It’s taken them since April but Eddie Howe’s men have finally shrugged the monkey – dare we say King Kong himself – off their backs. A win on the road, at long last.
First-half goals from Malick Thiaw, Lewis Miley, and Nick Woltemade turned the atmosphere here from feverish to funereal.
Thiaw, the centre-back who is quickly becoming a hero, twisted the knife with another header in the second half before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall bagged a consolation.
In truth, Newcastle barely had to lift a finger.
Newcastle thrashed Everton 4-1 to claim their first away with of the season in style
Newcastle’s flying starts
If matches ended after half an hour, Newcastle would be title challengers. They now boast an enviable aggregate score of 6-0 inside the first 30 minutes of Premier League games this season.
The sprightly Magpies took full advantage of Everton’s yawning, rudderless start. It took Thiaw just 55 seconds to plunge this ground into solemnity, rising above Michael Keane to head home a corner. At £35million, he’s looking like one of the league’s best signings of the summer.
Miley then took advantage of some calamitous defending to double the lead on 25 minutes. Three Everton players failed to clear their lines before Pickford let Miley’s shot go right through him. James Tarkowski was livid with him.
Newcastle boast a 6-0 aggregate score overall in the first 30 minutes of games this season
Aaron Ramsdale’s performance
The major talking point beforehand was whether Howe would have the nerve to drop Nick Pope, but a groin injury to his No 1 goalkeeper swung the axe for him.
And so Aaron Ramsdale came in for his first Premier League start. Believe me: he could have played wearing a sleep mask.
The England international did solidly enough when he was rarely called upon but we did not witness any fruit from his apparently superior distribution.
In fact, 23 minutes in, he nearly threw Bruno Guimaraes under the bus with a foolish pass when he was under huge pressure from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Fortunately, as Guimaraes fell, it rolled past both of them to a green shirt.
Howe can’t have learned much from this outing. Ramsdale wasn’t at fault for the goal – Thiaw and Tino Livramento gave Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall a free pass.
Aaron Ramsdale did decent enough on his first league start for Newcastle but had a sloppy moment in possession
Howe’s ruthlessness pays off
Howe is typically loyal to his starters but here he dropped both Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon – and learned a lot.
He was rewarded with Miley’s first goal of the season and Anthony Elanga was arguably the best player on the pitch on the right wing.
The latter was a constant menace down the right and did superbly to outmuscle Tim Iroegbunam and dink the ball through for Woltemade’s stylish lob over Jordan Pickford.
Elanga had to settle for a place on the bench in the prior four Premier League games but he surely deserves to start against Tottenham on Tuesday after producing more end product than Gordon has in his last 19 Premier League games combined.
Crucially, the game taught Howe that he can lean on his squad depth, with a potential 31 games to come between now and mid-March.
Anthony Elanga was one of the best players on the pitch – Howe was rewarded for being bold with his selection
Everton missing Gueye
Everton made light of Gueye’s slappy sending-off against Manchester United by setting him up for a mock boxing match with Michael Keane in midweek. They won’t be joking now.
David Moyes missed his midfield destroyer here. Big time. Everton were exposed on the counter-attack and as soft as a paper bag through the middle.
His replacement, Tim Iroegbunam, started brightly enough but quickly faded. He failed to clear the ball for the second goal – as others did – and was too easily outgunned by Elanga moments before the third.
Moyes recognised the issue and hooked him at half-time, throwing on Carlos Alcaraz. He hit the bar with a piledriver from the edge of the box but still, they missed Gueye’s composure and bite.
The worrying thing is, unless he returns against Chelsea after his suspension, they’ll only see the Senegal international again after he’s done at the Africa Cup of Nations, which ends on January 18.
Everton missed the bite and composure of Idrissa Gana Gueye in the middle of the park
No luck for Barry
Thierno Barry’s search for a goal goes on. That’s 15 games dry now for the £27million Frenchman but again, he worked hard and was combative. Not many men send Dan Burn sprawling to the ground but that’s exactly what he did right after kick-off.
The 23-year-old was again denied a goal by the forbidding verdict of VAR. Against Fulham there was an offside, and here he was punished for a handball after lashing a half-volley past Pickford. It was a fair call but you felt for him.
