He failed to capitalise on the Magpies’ uncommon start.
Newcastle United failed to capitalise on Everton’s poor form, drawing 1-1 at St James’ Park on Tuesday evening.
Eddie Howe’s team seized the lead in the first half thanks to Alexander Isak’s strike, but were pegged back with just minutes remaining when Paul Dummett was ruled to have brought down seasoned winger Ashley Young.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin stepped up to blast his penalty past Martin Dubravka, gaining a crucial point in Everton’s fight for Premier League survival.
The Magpies deserved all three points after controlling the game for long stretches, but were let down by a number of players who failed to capitalize on their rare starts for Newcastle.
One player in particular surprised everyone, as the Newcastle star was extremely irresponsible in possession, particularly in the second half of the match.
Emil Krafth’s stats against Everton
Defender Emil Krafth has not started a Premier League game for Howe’s team since a 3-0 victory over Fulham in December, but he was given a rare start yesterday night due to the club’s horrific injury situation.
The Swedish international full-back played the entire 90 minutes for the Magpies and had a decent game, but nothing to brag about. The 29-year-old did an adequate job given the circumstances.
He did not win any tackles and was dribbled past once, but the Swede did win 50% of his aerial and ground duels as he attempted to keep Dyche’s side from scoring.
The defender also completed 27 passes at a 73% rate, with two of them producing chances in the final third for players such as Isak and Harvey Barnes.
Krafth received a 7/10 rating from Chronicle Live journalist Lee Ryder, who claimed he played the game with ‘minimal fuss’ in his first league appearance in almost three months.
However, despite obtaining the same rating as Krafth, one Newcastle player had a disappointing night, failing to capitalise on his rare start under Howe.
Jacob Murphy’s stats against Everton
In his second start in as many games, winger Jacob Murphy had a dismal evening at St James’ Park, surrendering possession 23 times in 90 minutes.
During his outing, Murphy tried ten crosses, only two of which reached another player in black and white, for a success rate of 20%.
The forward squandered one great chance in front of goal, denying Howe’s team any chance of winning a crucial victory as they sought to cut the gap on the European places despite recent injury problems.
As previously said, the 29-year-old scored a 7/10 rating for his performance against the Toffees, but it was far from impressive, putting his spot in the starting lineup in jeopardy.
Despite the club’s injury concerns, Howe should sideline the winger ahead of the weekend trip to Fulham, with Murphy looking a shadow of his former self, having scored once and assisted twice in a 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in October.
