Newcastle United prepare for Everton as Goodison Park atmosphere turns 'toxic'

The club, last relegated in 1951, is level on points with 18th-placed Watford ahead of Thursday night's game against Eddie Howe’s side.

When the two sides met at St James's Park early last month, Frank Lampard’s team were above Newcastle in the Premier League table. However, Lampard, so far, has been unable to arrest a slump in results, while a nine-game unbeaten run has seen United pull away from the bottom three.

And, according to the PA news agency, the atmosphere at Goodison Park “quickly turned toxic” during yesterday’s 1-0 home defeat to Wolverhmpton Wanderers.

“Staying calm is not the thing,” said Lampard. “I think being on edge isn’t a bad thing, We and the players have to stay brave. We have to stick to how we want to play.

“To be fair to the players, it has been a long time that we haven’t been winning enough games, and it’s impossible to think that changes overnight without work and without fighting for something to go in your favour. We have seen it with teams round us. Very quickly they look like they are out of trouble – or very quickly they look in trouble.”

Looking ahead to the Newcastle game, Lampard said: “It’s my job to be confident, to be positive, to be realistic, and the realistic view is we have 12 games, and some games in hand, on other teams around us.

“Of course, they’re only any good if win them. If things go in our favour on Thursday, it’ll look very different.”

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