Miguel Almiron continued his fine form with a superb curling finish as Newcastle United beat Everton 1-0 at St James' Park on Wednesday.
The Paraguayan midfielder's fifth goal of the season – and his fourth in four games – helped extend Newcastle's unbeaten run to six matches as the Magpies maintained their top-six spot in the Premier League.
Midfielder Bruno Guimaraes almost scored twice after Almiron's first-half strike against a lacklustre Everton side who failed to register a shot on target.
"It was a massive win for us," said home captain Kieran Trippier. "We've had a good spell recently and we want to keep pushing up the league and competing at the top of the table. We didn't perform to our best today but we grinded out the result.
"Ever since the gaffer has come here, and myself, it has been a positive place to be. We are performing well. The last two games not really, but we are still getting the results we want. Long may that continue."
Everton, for whom striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin played 73 minutes in his first start of the season, were decidedly second-best before the break and fortunate to be just a single goal behind.
Jacob Murphy’s dipping eighth-minute strike gave Jordan Pickford some concern in the Everton goal and then the former Sunderland keeper comfortably saved a Callum Wilson header soon after.
Calvert-Lewin mustered Everton’s only attempt at goal with a header from Demarai Gray’s 26th-minute corner, but cleared the crossbar by some distance, and Seamus Coleman had to hack away Wilson’s cross with Murphy waiting to pounce two minutes later.
The home side took the lead 14 minutes before the break when, after Murphy had headed Trippier’s ball back across goal, it was fed out to Guimaraes, whose pass was perfectly-weighted for Almiron to clip a superb curling shot over the helpless Pickford and inside the far post.
Newcastle might have increased their lead as they took the game by the scruff of the neck, Guimaraes twice shooting just wide either side of Pickford’s save from Fabian Schar’s bullet header before Dan Burn only just cleared the target.
The first half drew do a close in acrimonious fashion after Anthony Gordon, on his return from suspension, went to ground under Burn’s challenge with both the midfielder and Schar booked for their part in the melee which ensued.
A rare error from Trippier allowed Gray to race clear down the Everton left three minutes after the restart, only for the midfielder to drag his cross behind the blue shirts arriving in the middle to let the Magpies off the hook.
Almiron whistled a 55th-minute attempt just high and wide, but the visitors were enjoying their best spell of the game with Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana belatedly making an impact.
Substitute Joe Willock glanced a 77th-minute Trippier free-kick past the far post and then headed over with four minutes remaining, and there was no way back for the visitors.
"The stats I understand because in the box we weren't clinical enough," said Everton manager Frank Lampard, whose team are 15th in the table after losing three games in a row. "In terms of the overall game in terms of us competing, the stats were very good.
"It was a close match, Newcastle will know that. They are obviously ahead of us in their development."
You can see the player ratings from the match at St James' Park in the gallery above. To move on to the next photo, click on the arrows or if using a mobile device, simply swipe.
