The Everton playmaker moved on 11 goals for the season after dispatching two late penalties in the 3-0 win over Newcastle United on Wednesday night.
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It was Everton, however, that struck the first blow after 23 minutes when Lennon collected the ball on the edge of the area, before turning and firing low into the net.
The questions about Mike Ashley’s investment in Newcastle United can be reasonably asked by the owner himself, not his detractors, after deserved defeat at Everton exposed the fault lines running through Steve McClaren’s relegation-threatened team.
Newcastle coach Steve McClaren would have been banking on an improvement after splashing out last month on Jonjo Shelvey, Henri Saivet and Andros Townsend, who all started against Everton in a revamped midfield.
Watford put the brakes on Chelsea’s resurgence by holding the champions to a 0-0 draw in their English Premier League football game at Vicarage Road.
“52,000 people will demand a reaction against West Brom on Saturday”.
“We’ll have to assess that [Doumbia] over the next couple of days as they were in a winter break in Russia”, McClaren said. We were very sad to lose at Man City but right now it is different. “The attitude has been great and we’ve stuck together and played as a team”. We’ve got 14 games left, and we can’t waste a game now.
“100 games in the league at 22 is not easy to achieve and he is playing a big role in the team”, Everton manager Roberto Martinez said of Barkley.
“We scanned it yesterday and it’s nothing serious, but it’s one of those feelings you get when you play a lot of games and a lot of minutes”.
Although Everton saved some face over the weekend by seeing off League Two minnows Carlisle United in the FA Cup, a run of just three league wins since September coupled with the worst home defensive record in the division paints a damning picture.
With Pep Guardiola due to arrive at Manchester City for the start of the 2016/17 season, there’s a strong possibility that Barkley could swap royal blue for sky blue. “I think a year ago and the season before that, Ross was a young man with enormous potential”, Martinez told the club’s website (www.evertonfc.com).
Everton lost leading scorer Romelu Lukaku to a back injury at half-time and the striker is a doubt for Saturday’s trip to Stoke while defender John Stones missed the game with a hamstring problem and will but out a little longer.
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Paul Dummett and Chancel Mbemba were both injured at Goodison Park, while Jamaal Lascelles was sent off after conceding the second of Ross Barkley’s two penalties.
