Newcastle United vs Everton 12/26/2015 Premier League Preview, Odds & Predictions

“We are where we are, but we want to have a better second half to the season than we did the first”.

Everton star Leighton Baines believes that Newcastle United are starting to turn a corner in their Premier League campaign.

That could be addressed when the transfer window reopens at the start of next month, with Steve McClaren having previously suggested that planning for January was already well underway by the time he took over in the summer.

McClaren is also having to be patient with Aleksandar Mitrovic, his young £14.5m Serbia striker, and would not be human if he did not cast covetous glances at Everton’s Romelu Lukaku on Saturday.

“I remember watching him when he was at Anderlecht for Twente in a winter friendly, he was about 16 or 17 and he was a player then”.

“I think he said before the game, “I need to score a goal”. He’s had to develop and now he’s looking like a real deal, the complete centre-forward.

Last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Aston Villa at St James’ Park was deeply frustrating, but at least it kept their mini unbeaten run going. “But he needs to hold that emotion and control it, although we should never take the aggression out of his game”.

“I think he’s coming back slowly”.

They remain just one place above the bottom three ahead of today’s tea-time visit of Everton, and McClaren said: ‘That (points return) has not been good enough.

“Everton are better than Aston Villa and have a lot of good players, so it will be tough, but if we do it as a team, anything is possible”. “His fitness has improved and his running stats prove that – but he knows he needs a goal”.

“We’re just hoping he has those spells where he is very effective”. He was the focal point of that, but here it’s a little different.

Now, pundit Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he thinks Everton will win the game 2-1 – but claims the Toffees are underachieving under Roberto Martinez right now.

He said: “If we play as a team and fight hard and play our football where it’s possible, we can win most games in the Premier League”.

The away side are big favourites for this game, priced at [2.38], and I’m not sure why given that they don’t actually win very often, are away from home, and their opponents have won two of their last three.

“Yes, we’ve been working on dealing with that”, McClaren admitted.