Everton Dominates Newcastle United 3-1 in Edinburgh

Everton 3–1 Newcastle United
Blues turn on the style in Edinburgh as George steals the show

Ten days from the start of the Premier League season, Everton found something they badly needed in the Scottish capital: control, confidence, and a flash of real brilliance.

Against a reshaped Newcastle United at Murrayfield, David Moyes’s side shook off the rust of a mixed pre-season and a 3-1 defeat at Stuttgart to deliver a sharp, assertive 3-1 win – with teenager Tyrique George providing the moment that lit up the night.

Branthwaite left out, Patterson flies the flag

The evening began with a notable absentee. Jarrad Branthwaite, fresh from captaining Everton and playing 80 minutes in Stuttgart and also involved against Bolton Wanderers and Hamburg, was left out as part of his planned reintegration following last season’s hamstring injury. The club confirmed he will continue full training at Finch Farm before returning for the final warm-up against LOSC Lille at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Nathan Patterson, by contrast, was very much in the thick of it. The right-back, starting on Scottish soil, offered Everton’s first real attacking threat after a difficult opening spell.

Newcastle, in pink, started on the front foot. Wissa tested Mark Travers with an early lob, Elanga forced a sharp parry after Mykolenko tied himself in knots, and the Blues struggled to get out. The first five minutes were one-way traffic and brought the first Newcastle corner, calmly gathered by Travers.

Everton’s early attempts to play through midfield stalled. Barry and Ndiaye were both fouled as they tried to drive forward, only for the resulting free-kicks to be recycled backwards and squandered. The pattern was worrying: pressure building, possession cheap, and Moyes’s side pinned in.

Everton settle, Barry strikes

The game began to tilt on 14 minutes. At last, Everton played forward with conviction. Patterson whipped in a superb cross to the far post, Dewsbury-Hall arriving just a fraction late. It didn’t produce a goal, but it changed the tone.

Hackney started to snap into challenges, George began to carry the ball with purpose, and Ndiaye tried to slide Barry in behind. The end product was scruffy, George wasting three promising openings, but Everton were now contesting the midfield rather than simply surviving.

Newcastle still carried a threat. Wissa went down in the area under minimal contact from Hackney, the referee unimpressed. Toure continued to deliver dangerous balls from the left. One lapse from Hackney almost proved fatal, Wissa seemingly certain to score before Tarkowski produced a superb, last-ditch intervention.

That tackle flipped the script.

Everton broke at pace. Keane lofted a ball forward, Barry initially misjudging it, then recovering superbly. He shrugged off two defenders, was tackled, but the loose ball ran to Armstrong. One cool pass later and Theirno Barry was in, and this time he made it count, drilling a low finish across the keeper into the far corner on 28 minutes. Clinical. Exactly what Everton had been missing.

Barry immediately became a magnet for Newcastle’s frustration. Joelinton wrestled him down, another free-kick wasted by going backwards. Yet the Blues were now playing with a clarity that had been absent early on. A slick move should have seen Ndiaye score, only for Newcastle’s new keeper to deny him.

The pressure finally told again on 35 minutes. Mykolenko slid Dewsbury-Hall into the box, Joelinton once more overstepped the mark with a robust challenge, and this time the referee pointed to the spot. Iliman Ndiaye stepped up and coolly rolled home the penalty for 2-0.

Everton were suddenly brimming with confidence. Patterson mugged Joelinton on halfway and surged down the right, only for Dewsbury-Hall to hesitate and overcomplicate the move, allowing Newcastle to crowd the box before the final pass to George.

Wissa then flew into a nasty challenge, earning only a free-kick and a stern word from Tarkowski. Ndiaye nicked the ball off Hall and was harshly penalised, another sign of Newcastle’s irritation as Everton’s defence – marshalled by Tarkowski and Keane – stayed firm.

Armstrong, increasingly assured in the middle, drew another foul from Joelinton. Set-pieces still came to nothing, but the pattern was set: Everton in control, Newcastle snatching at half-chances. The Blues went in at the break two goals up and deserved it.

Newcastle ring the changes, Travers stands tall

Newcastle responded with wholesale changes after the interval, and the fresh legs brought a quick threat. Jacob Murphy slipped in behind Mykolenko and fired low, Travers reacting brilliantly to turn the shot away at his right-hand post.

Hackney immediately reminded everyone that Everton could hurt Newcastle too, lofting a fine ball towards Barry, whose poor first touch squandered a promising situation. George then flashed a tremendous ball across the box towards Ndiaye, only for an awkward bounce to carry it out of play.

For a spell, Everton had to dig in. Newcastle’s new faces pushed higher, forcing the Blues back. When Everton did break out, Mykolenko undid good approach play with a wild, wasteful cross.

Then came a passage that summed up the night. Dewsbury-Hall weaved cleverly, Hackney fed George on the edge of the area, and the youngster unleashed his trademark curler, the ball bending just beyond the top corner. At the other end, Mykolenko was again exposed on the overlap, but the flag spared him.

Everton tried to take the sting out of the game by keeping the ball, though too often it ended with Travers. Barry drove inside and was clipped by Miley, giving Dewsbury-Hall a chance from a free-kick. His effort curled around the wall and was heading for the post before the keeper pushed it behind.

George saw another shot blocked. Hackney burst into the box after a clever 1-2 with George, went down, and appealed for a penalty, but the referee waved it away. Ndiaye cut inside and lashed a shot high over the bar. Mykolenko, this time, defended his flank well and helped clear a Newcastle corner, only for Barry to waste a promising break with a poor pass.

On the hour, Moyes turned to his bench. Dibling, Beto and Alcaraz entered, with Ndiaye, Barry and Dewsbury-Hall making way. Barry’s last notable act had been to release George on a counter that ended with Dibling going down under an arm to the face in the area – again, no penalty.

George produces a Murrayfield moment

The game’s finest sequence arrived on 73 minutes, and it belonged to Tyrique George.

Armstrong started it, sweeping a lovely crossfield ball to Dibling, whose first cross spun behind off a defender. From the second delivery, Everton kept the move alive. George picked up possession on the left, drove at his man and forced a corner, taken by Hackney to the far post. Everton’s attempts to work the ball into space kept breaking down – until they didn’t.

The ball came back to George, who surged forward once more. He exchanged crisp passes with Armstrong, the midfielder pausing, almost nonchalant, standing on the ball before threading a superb reverse pass into George’s path. The weight, the angle, the timing – perfect.

George did the rest. One spin, light and sharp, like a ballerina on the turn, and he whipped a low shot past the keeper and into the net. A gorgeous goal, crafted and finished with real composure. At 3-0, Murrayfield finally saw a piece of football worthy of the stage.

Everton, now purring, played their way out from the back with confidence. George slid a pass into substitute Aznou, whose cross was blocked. Ramsey resorted to a rugby tackle on Armstrong to halt another break and somehow escaped a booking.

Dibling beat his man on the flank and swung in a decent cross, but no one attacked it. That miss would prove a small blemish.

Newcastle, to their credit, refused to fold. Eventually they pierced Everton’s back line, Jacob Murphy whipping in a superb cross and Barnes clipping home to reduce the deficit. It was a sharp finish and a reminder that clean sheets still need work.

A step forward, and a standard set

Everton closed it out without further alarm. Travers’ early saves, Tarkowski’s authority, Armstrong’s calm in midfield and George’s spark all stood out. Patterson’s energy, Hackney’s bite and Ndiaye’s assurance from the spot added layers to a performance that looked far more like a Premier League side tuning up than a team still searching for itself.

Newcastle, under Matthias Jaissle, remain a work in progress after a summer of upheaval that saw Eddie Howe depart and Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes sold. Their second-half rally showed there is something to build on, but they were second best for long stretches.

For Moyes, this was about rhythm and readiness. With Branthwaite managed carefully and new signings like Norgaard and Johnson still to be integrated, this was a night for those already in the system to stake a claim.

George did more than that. On a cool Edinburgh evening, he offered a glimpse of something rarer: a young player capable of changing the tempo, the mood, even the expectations around this Everton side.

If this is the standard, what does the next 10 days hold?