Miguel Almirón cracker lifts Newcastle and leaves Everton looking down

Miguel Almirón spent most of his first three years at Newcastle struggling to score but something has changed this season and it could yet propel Eddie Howe’s side into Europe.

The Paraguayan’s fifth goal of the campaign, a sumptuous first-time chip curled over a helpless Jordan Pickford, kept a Newcastle team beaten only once this season on track while consigning Frank Lampard’s Everton to a miserable night in the north-east.

As a former Sunderland goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford is always greeted by an often seemingly incessant soundtrack of boos here and, apparently rather relishing it, he responded by taking a an early goal kick in apparent slow motion.

Pickford’s teammates initially looked to be under instructions to sit deep and endeavour to hit Newcastle on the break. This dictated that Dominic Calvert-Lewin, making his first start of the season since recovering from a troublesome knee injury acquired on the eve of the campaign, needed to be patient – and willing to track back.

Eddie Howe is still without the injured Allan Saint-Maximin but his left-wing deputy, Jacob Murphy, came close to opening the scoring after cutting inside, drifting beyond Seamus Coleman and Alex Iwobi before unleashing a rising shot which arced narrowly over the bar.

While some stellar, by now hallmark, defence-bisecting passes dispatched by Bruno Guimarães helped ease the midfield congestion and warm the crowd on a cool, windy Tyneside night, Frank Lampard’s defence generally ensured Pickford was well protected.

At the other end, the Everton keeper’s England deputy, Nick Pope, found himself even less busy. Perhaps significantly, Calvert-Lewin’s first real impact led to him being booked for hacking down Guimarães.

Pickford was beaten by