Salomon can smile again
SALOMON Rondon earned Newcastle a point on a night of contrasting emotions for the striker.
Rondon left the pitch in tears on his last visit to Goodison Park in January when his challenge on James McCarthy left the Everton midfielder with a broken leg.
The forward, who was playing for West Brom, was distraught by the horrific injury and McCarthy has still not returned to action nearly a year later.
But Rondon was all smiles last night as his predatory strike ended Newcastle’s five-match losing streak against the Toffees.
Rafa Benitez always enjoys a positive result against Everton after his time across Stanley Park at Liverpool and the point was Newcastle’s 11th from their last six games, continuing their recent recovery. At this rate Mike Ashley may even be able to ask for a few more quid as he looks to sell the club.
For Everton there was more frustration after Sunday’s agonising defeat in the Merseyside derby, especially as they created more than enough chances to win. But they were denied by a combination of fine goalkeeping by Martin Dubravka and poor finishing from Cenk Tosun.
Everton, who had won their last four league games at Goodison, disappointed in the second half and not even the mercurial Andre Gomes could inspire them.
Thankfully for the hosts, Richarlison remained on song and cancelled out Rondon’s opener with his seventh Premier League goal.
Jordan Pickford received a welcome boost following his derby howler, with the home fans giving him a huge cheer when his name was read out before kick-off. Predictably, the Newcastle fans were not so charitable and gleefully taunted him due to his Sunderland connections.
Everton, devastated by their last-gasp loss on Sunday, were determined to bounce back against their favourite whipping boys. They began intent on continuing their great run as Tosun headed over from a cross from the impressive Lucas Digne.
But just as Everton were settling into their rhythm, they went to sleep and allowed Newcastle to score on the break on 19 minutes.
Jacob Murphy escaped down the left and sent a ball across the six-yard box to the back post where the unmarked Rondon stuck out his right leg to beat Pickford. It was Newcastle’s first goal in six meetings with Everton, dating back to 2014.
Everton were stung to concede against the run of play and Federico Fernandez soon made an excellent block to deny Gylfi Sigurdsson. Richarlison then hit a right-foot sho, which was expertly pushed away by Dubravka.
From the resulting corner, Everton equalised on 38 minutes when Newcastle failed to deal with Sigurdsson’s ball in and Richarlison pounced on a deflection.
Everton were ascendant and Dubravka had to make another wonderful save to deny Tosun from close range. But the interval came at the wrong time for Everton and they lost all the momentum they had built up after equalising.
Marco Silva tried to get them going again by throwing on Bernard and Theo Walcott, with the latter soon losing control just as he was about to bear down on Dubravka’s goal.
Everton could not find a way through Newcastle’s defence as wing-backs Javier Manquillo and DeAndre Yedlin tucked in to make it a virtual back five. They kept Everton at bay despite constant pressure, and the frustrated groans which rang round Goodison summed up the Toffees’ night.
EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Coleman, Zouma, Mina, Digne; Gueye, Gomes; Lookman (CalvertLewin 78), Sigurdsson (Walcott 70), Richarlison; Tosun (Bernard 69). Goal: Richarlison 38. NEXT UP: Watford (h), Mon PL.
NEWCASTLE (5-4-1): Dubravka; Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Schar, Manquillo; Murphy (Perez 64), Ki, Diame, Atsu; Rondon (Joselu 74). Booked: Diame, Yedlin, Schar, Fernandez, Atsu. Goal: Rondon 19. NEXT UP: Wolves (H), Sun PL.
Referee: L Mason (Lancashire).