Walcott winner against Newcastle sends Everton eighth

Everton's Theo Walcott struck just after halftime to secure a 1-0 home win over Newcastle United on Monday that took the Merseysiders up to eighth in the Premier League, their highest position this season. After an uneventful opening half at Goodison Park, Ayoze Perez should have put the visitors ahead in the 50th minute but shot wide of Jordan Pickford's goal after being put through by Brazilian Kenedy. Moments later, Everton went in front when Yannick Bolasie whipped in a deep cross from the right and former Arsenal winger Walcott brought the ball down before taking his time to fire home the winner and lift them to 45 points from 35 games. Tenth-placed Newcastle had plenty of late pressure, as they searched for a point that would mathematically clinch their top- flight survival, but they were unable to create an opening and stay on 41 points, 12 above the drop zone with four games left.

With their 1-0 win on Monday night, this marks the first time @Everton have kept five consecutive clean sheets against a single opponent in the #PL#EVENEW pic.twitter.com/sNgTzXRpnn

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 24, 2018

Everton have climbed above Leicester City will finish in a respectable league position after a poor start to the campaign that threatened to see them entangled in the relegation battle. "If we keep winning we keep getting better. I think eighth in the league compared to fifth from bottom tells you we're getting better," said manager Sam Allardyce, who took over in November. Despite the improved results, Allardyce has not been a popular choice with many Everton fans who believe his approach to the game is too rudimentary.

Great result tonight - happy to have got the goal & thanks to all the fans ?? pic.twitter.com/5wTowclYid

— Theo Walcott (@theowalcott) April 23, 2018

"What was wrong with our style today? We dominated the game, out-passed the opposition. You have to be patient," said the much-travelled 63-year-old. "You can't knock our football. You can knock some of the passing that goes astray but you can't knock me for that, I don't pass the ball. We try and limit those mistakes every week," he added. Newcastle are virtually assured of survival and manager Rafa Benitez said they could have gained more from the game with a little extra finesse. "I am pleased with the effort of the players but this final pass in the final third can make the difference," said the Spaniard. "We are really strong. Just to stay in the Premier League was the target and we are really pleased with that."

Everton claim the three points and move up to 8th in the #PL thanks to Theo Walcott's second-half goal#EVENEW pic.twitter.com/MFEYIaRjag

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 23, 2018

POINTS TABLE:played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, pointsMan City 34 29 3 2 98 25 90 -- championsMan Utd 34 23 5 6 65 26 74Liverpool 35 20 11 4 80 37 71Tottenham 34 20 8 6 66 31 68Chelsea 34 19 6 9 59 34 63Arsenal 34 17 6 11 66 46 57Burnley 35 14 11 10 35 32 53Everton 35 12 9 14 40 54 45Leicester 34 11 11 12 49 47 44Newcastle 34 11 8 15 35 43 41Bournemouth 35 9 11 15 41 58 38Watford 35 10 8 17 42 60 38Brighton 34 8 12 14 32 47 36Crystal Palace 35 8 11 16 36 54 35West Ham 34 8 11 15 42 63 35Huddersfield 34 9 8 17 27 54 35Swansea 34 8 9 17 27 51 33Southampton 34 5 14 15 33 53 29Stoke 35 6 11 18 32 65 29West Brom 35 4 13 18 29 54 25