By the time the evening temperature plunged towards zero and Tyneside pavements started turning icily treacherous, Newcastle United had already lost their footing. Undone by Wayne Rooney’s first-half goal, Rafael Benítez’s suddenly unsteady side were heading for a seventh defeat in eight games. By way of exacerbating the Spaniard’s problems, the recalled Jonjo Shelvey once again failed to merit his manager’s trust. “We had the game under control but we made a mistake and then the way Everton were wasting time at the end made things really difficult,” he said. If Allardyce’s increasingly intense technical area gum chewing suggested a degree of early concern, he was not about to panic.

Source: The Guardian December 13, 2017 21:53 UTC