Everton beat Newcastle again as Moyes praises players’ fighting spirit

Everton completed a league and cup double over Newcastle with a 1-0 Premier League victory at St James’ Park on Monday, as David Moyes praised his side’s commitment.

The win came only four days after Everton defeated the Magpies 3-1 in the Carabao Cup fourth round, with Moyes’ team producing another disciplined display on Tyneside.

After a goalless first half, Everton took the lead four minutes after the restart. Tyrique George’s low shot went underneath Newcastle goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek and Thierno Barry reacted fastest to turn the loose ball into the net.

The goal was Barry’s fourth in the Premier League this season and proved enough to secure Everton’s first away league win of the campaign.

Moyes said overcoming Newcastle twice in such a short period was a significant achievement, particularly against a side he believes remains difficult to face.

“They are so good in what they do as they give everything they’ve got,” the Everton manager said.

“They’re a brilliant group of players and they’ve had it tough as well. They want to keep winning and they’ve found it difficult with the way things have gone, but they’re pulling it out and doing their best to be in all the games.”

Moyes was also pleased with the way Everton responded to the challenge of winning away from home again.

“We beat Newcastle on Thursday night and to beat them again today is not an easy thing to do for any club at this level,” he added.

“To come here and get a good win tonight was a great result for us.”

The victory ended Everton’s three-game winless run in the Premier League and moved them up seven places to seventh in the table.

“We’ve actually done quite well in some of the games, getting draws in difficult away games, but we’ve not picked up a victory,” said Moyes.

“Last season we had a great run of results away from home, so I was hoping to pick it up tonight and thankfully we did. Clean sheet and got the goal that counted.”

The result also meant Everton had won three consecutive Premier League away matches against Newcastle for the first time.

Newcastle manager Matthias Jaissle accepted that his side had performed well below the required standard and took responsibility for the defeat.

“We need to analyse that now in detail,” he said.

“It’s also clear that I have the responsibility and I also take that as the manager of this club, and we need to do things better.”

Jaissle was particularly dissatisfied with Newcastle’s work with and without the ball, including their failure to carry out the pressing plan they had prepared.

The hosts’ frustration increased late in the match when Jacob Ramsey was shown two yellow cards in quick succession and sent off.

Newcastle have now lost four of their past five matches and dropped to 13th, increasing the pressure on Jaissle.