Everton 1 Newcastle 4: How big is first away win? Has Miley played himself into Howe’s XI? – The Athletic

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Everton 1 Newcastle 4: How big is first away win? Has Miley played himself into Howe’s XI? - The Athletic

Newcastle swept aside Everton as they put their poor away form behind them in an impressive display. Eddie Howe’s side made a fast start, scoring after just 55 seconds as Malick Thiaw headed in Lewis Miley’s superb corner from close range. It was the quickest goal of the season so far.

The second goal came in somewhat comic circumstances. Tino Livramento’s off-target shot was deflected back to the edge of the area by a stretching Dan Burn. Miley struck his shot directly at Pickford, but the England goalkeeper somehow contrived to push the ball through his own legs and into the goal.

The third came just before the break, from a pitch-length counter. Anthony Elanga chased Livramento’s long pass and took advantage of poor Everton defending to square to Nick Woltemade. The Germany striker lobbed the ball over Pickford and into the net. On 57 minutes, the visitors made it four, as Lewis Hall’s cross was met by another Thiaw header.

Thierno Barry had a goal ruled out by the VAR officials for handball before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall finished impressively on 69 minutes as Everton tried to rally.

The Athletic’s Jacob Whitehead and Chris Waugh dissect the key issues.

How big is it that Newcastle have finally won an away game?

Only 67 minutes had passed before Newcastle fans began to ole every pass, but a buoyant away end had already dipped deep into their song book long before that.

The circumstances of Newcastle’s win were perfect — a goal from an academy boy, an absurdly-relaxed lob from Woltemade, and a mistake from boyh00d Sunderland fan Jordan Pickford — but the overall picture was far more significant than the details.

Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade scored a clever lob (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Fundamentally, Newcastle’s away-day blues appear to have reached their end.

Saturday evening was their first league win away from St James’ Park all season, a run of games underpinned by thrown leads, absent composure, and meek midfield defending. They had scored three goals in their previous seven away games. Here, Newcastle had four inside the hour.

Howe’s exasperation at answering the whys of their away form had become apparent with every passing press conference. Fabian Schar, speaking to Sky Sports pre-game, had no specific answers either. “It’s hard to find an explanation for it,” he repeated twice.

There is a point where doing is the only explanation possible — and it took until visiting Merseyside, three months into the season, that Newcastle finally cleared that hurdle.

They are now 11th in the table, but given the paucity of some away performances, it should now be a boost that they are only three points from the Champions League places. With home games against two struggling sides, Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur, next on their agenda, they should be confident of further closing that gap.

Both injured full-backs are now back. Woltemade is scoring once more. Anthony Elanga has his first assist. Their first back-to-back league victories in 2025-26. This away win could be a mood-changer for Newcastle’s season.

Jacob Whitehead

Has Eddie Howe figured out how to rotate his players?

Rotation is critical for Newcastle this season — and on this occasion, birthday-boy Howe’s changes were inspired.

There were six alterations from the team that lost 2-1 at Marseille on Tuesday, with the headline being Aaron Ramsdale replacing Nick Pope in goal, as many Newcastle fans had called for, although the latter was officially ruled out with a groin problem. Fabian Schar, Sandro Tonali, Jacob Murphy, Joe Willock and Anthony Gordon, against his former club, also dropped to the bench.

In came Lewis Hall, Joelinton, Anthony Elanga, Miley and Woltemade, all of whom played pivotal roles in Newcastle’s potentially season-altering first-half performance when it comes to their away displays.

Joelinton was a powerful presence in midfield, Hall marauded forward from left-back and offered technical excellence down that flank, while Elanga finally registered a goal involvement on his 20th appearance for Newcastle. Elanga burst through inside 20 seconds and won the corner from which Thiaw nodded in the opener, while the Sweden winger also did brilliantly to centre for Woltemade’s sublime chipped finish from the edge of the area.

Anthony Elanga registered a first-half assist (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

That was the German’s seventh goal for Newcastle on his 14th start — and his first in a month, since scoring against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup. Woltemade was rested from the XI in Marseille, having started 11 games in succession, but responded after being restored in place of Gordon.

Ramsdale, meanwhile, did not have a save to make during the first half, but his distribution with his feet offered Newcastle a fresh dimension and he was involved in the build-up to Newcastle’s third.

There really are some positive selection dilemmas facing Howe again now.

Chris Waugh

Has Miley played his way into Newcastle’s strongest team?

When Lewis Miley burst into the Newcastle squad as a 17-year-old capable of running the midfield at the Parc des Princes, it might have been a surprise, two years later, for it to reach late November before he received his third league start of the season.

His development has not stalled — rather, it shows the level of Newcastle’s first-choice midfield, a trio of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, and Joelinton, who, at their peak, are possibly the best unit in the Premier League.

But that midfield has struggled to reach those heights on multiple occasions this season, particularly away from home. Howe has shuffled his deck in this area before to get results — notably moving Tonali into the No 6 position last year — and though Miley’s elevation may not have been intended as a permanent move, the Stanley-born youngster is now pushing his manager to make a decision.

His corner delivery after less than a minute was perfect — dropping into a zone of some two metres between James Tarkowski and Michael Keane — and allowing Malick Thiaw to flick home the fastest goal of the season.

Twenty-five minutes later, and having already shaped to shoot on multiple previous occasions before slipping a pass through, Miley finally went for goal himself. In the post-mortem, the end result was far more dependent on the poorness of the goalkeeping than the quality of the strike — but this was still the night’s most significant moment.

Lewis Miley is congratulated by Thiaw after scoring (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

In previous away matches, Newcastle’s inability to kill the game has been their undoing — this gave them freedom, putting away an Everton side who had been on top since the first-minute opener.

And there are other parts to Miley’s game too, not just goals and assists, in which his abilities complement Newcastle’s existing riches. One moment came when he ghosted on the underlap into the right-hand channel to clip in a cross towards Woltemade — a move which isn’t in Joelinton’s skill set, a run which Guimaraes prefers not to make, and a ball-striking ability which is arguably superior to Tonali’s.

Miley still has years of development until he reaches his peak, but Saturday evening was a glimpse of what it could look like.

Jacob Whitehead

What did Howe say?

Speaking to BBC Match of the Day, the Newcastle manager said: “It was a massive win for us, first away win of the season. We have been chasing that win, and it was elusive so far, but that was a big moment today.

“I’m so pleased that the players won, so I didn’t have to talk about the away form today. We scored goals, which we haven’t done regularly enough away from home. We looked fresh, and we made some tactical tweaks.

“Back-to-back wins are everything, and beating Man City (last week) gave us a huge confidence lift — and this one today will give us a lift.”