To think this could end up being Newcastle's United final visit to Goodison Park if Everton go down. If that is to be the case, this 4-1 victory was not a bad way to sign off. No wonder the away end were still singing: "Don't take me home..." long after the final whistle.
Many of the 3,000 Geordies in attendance previously had altogether different memories of this stadium, which relegation-threatened Everton will leave behind to move into their new Bramley Dock home in the 2024-25 campaign. Who could forget a 3-0 defeat in 2016 when the visitors looked doomed under Steve McClaren? Even in better times, under Eddie Howe, Newcastle conspired to lose 1-0 last season despite Everton going down to 10 men and the scores being level in the 98th minute.
This had not been a happy hunting ground to say the least. Newcastle had only won one of their previous 10 visits yet that hoodoo was ended on Thursday night as the Magpies put yet another top-flight side to the sword following Sunday's 6-1 win against Spurs. These were very different tests yet the similarly emphatic score line was just what Howe wanted.
