Newcastle United’s wait for a first away win of the season is now over.
On Saturday night, the Magpies demolished Everton 4-1 on Merseyside, enjoying their first-ever visit to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Malick Thiaw broke the deadlock inside 60 seconds, with Lewis Miley lashing home a second and then Nick Woltemade making it three in first half stoppage time, before Thiaw bagged his second shortly after the interval, rubber stamping victory.
Before this, Eddie Howe’s side had failed to win any of their six Premier League away games this season, losing each of their last three on the road, their most recent away league victory coming at a hopeless Leicester in April.
Now, ahead of back-to-back home games this week against Tottenham and Burnley, which Newcastle player put in an excellent performance at Bramley-Moore Dock, suggesting he may be the club’s best young talent?
Can Lewis Miley break into Newcastle's midfield?
For so long, the backbone of Newcastle’s rise, twice qualifying for the Champions League and winning last season’s EFL Cup, has been their midfield trio of Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton.
However, attempting to balance both domestic and continental commitments, Howe has started to rotate his team a bit more, ahead of a jam-packed December featuring eight fixtures, so could Lewis Miley force his way into the starting lineup on a more regular basis?
Still a teenager, Miley started in the Premier League for just the second time this season on Saturday evening, scoring his first goal since netting during a 4-3 victory over Nottingham Forest in February.
Dominic Scurr of the Shields Gazette awarded him a 9/10 for his performance against Everton, stating that it was ‘so good to see him shining’ having been handed a rare start, getting the nod over Tonali.
For a long time now, Miley has been viewed as the brightest young talent in this Newcastle squad, becoming the second-youngest player in the club’s Premier League history to both score and record an assist in a single match, behind only Charles N’Zogbia.
Meantime, almost two years ago, Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout asserted that he is a “special talent”, labelling him “technical, elegant, composed, and hardworking” who is an “absolute unicorn in midfield”, emphasising that he’s been in the spotlight for quite a while.
However, did another player come to the fore at Hill Dickinson Stadium and underline that he is Newcastle’s brightest young thing?
Newcastle's bigger talent than Lewis Miley
Given their side’s inconsistent form, the Geordie faithful have been calling for Howe to tinker with his lineup, and they may be getting their wish.
Aaron Ramsdale displaced Nick Pope this weekend, while full-back is the other positions supporters have wanted to see a change, with Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall both starting too, and the latter certainly caught the eye.
The 21-year-old has now started back-to-back Premier League games, having been included in the lineup only twice this season in any competition beforehand, and underlined why supporters have been eager to see more of him, as the table documents.
Assists
1
1st
Successful dribbles
3
1st
Passing accuracy
91%
7th
Key passes
2
1st
Accurate crosses
2
2nd
Big chances created
2
1st
Ground duels won
5
1st
Tackle win %
100%
1st
Touches
87
3rd
Match rating
7.8
4th
As the table notes, Hall ranked first in a wide variety of statistics on Merseyside on Saturday evening.
He registered an assist, created two big chances and completed 91% of his 55 passes, while also winning five ground duels and 100% of his tackles.
For the majority of this season, Dan Burn has been the first-choice left-back, but the 6 ft 7 in hometown hero has been massively exposed in recent weeks.
This was particularly the case when he met Dango Ouattara of Brentford earlier this month, conceding a penalty and being sent off for fouling the Burkinabé winger during a 3-1 defeat in West London.
Thus, against both Man City and now Everton, Hall has proved he has to be Howe’s first-choice going forward, while the same may not yet be the case for his namesake in midfield.
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