Everton record much-needed win over Newcastle

Everton recorded a 3-0 win over Newcastle on Wednesday night. Aaron Lennon scored the opening goal before Ross Barkley scored a brace of penalties late on to give the Toffees their first home league win since November.

The Toffees could have won by a wider margin, but Newcastle ‘keeper Rob Elliot produced a number of good saves to keep the visitors in the game.

The win was only the Toffees second in their last 11 Premier League games and was much-needed with the Merseysiders campaign threatening to tail-off early.  Roberto Martinez’s side have massively underachieved this season in the Premier League and are 11th in the table.

England international midfielder Ross Barkley has been one of their bright spots though. The youngster is highly-rated and is living-up to the hype surrounding him, having now scored eight goals in the top-flight and provided eight assists this season.

It was not all good news for the Toffees though, as the men from Merseyside saw leading scorer Romelu Lukaku go off at half-time through an injury caused by a knee in the back from Newcastle centre-back Fabricio Coloccini.

The Belgian striker has scored 15 Premier League goals this season and combined with the likes of Gerard Deulofeu and of course Barkley to superb effect this season. Lukaku is a major doubt for the Toffees weekend game at Stoke City.

A victory over Stoke at the Britannia Stadium would see the Toffees climb back into the top half of the table, which most observers would say was more their natural habitat than the bottom half of the table.