Everton 3-1 Newcastle United: No Grealish, no problem in comfortable EFL Cup win

Everton cruised into the EFL Cup quarter-finals by dispatching Newcastle United 3-1 at Hill Dickinson Stadium, with James Garner, Hayden Hackney and Thierno Barry scoring.

David Moyes' men were without Jack Grealish after he was disciplined for "a breach of club discipline", but they made light of his absence to tee up a last-eight clash with Fleetwood Town, who stunned Arsenal in the fourth round earlier this week.

Harvey Barnes was heavily involved for Newcastle throughout the first half, seeing an early header kept out by Jordan Pickford, dragging a half-volley past the post and having a penalty appeal waved away following Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's challenge.

But it was Everton who went into the interval with a commanding lead. Their opener arrived in the 34th minute, with Garner curling a lovely finish into the far corner from just inside the area, after Hackney pounced on some loose play from Amar Dedic.

And the Toffees' second goal, on the stroke of half-time, saw them go from back to front quickly as Pickford found Dewsbury-Hall with a quick punt forward. Jacob Ramsey appeared to bring him down in full flight, but referee Farai Hallam played advantage and Barry's left-wing cross was volleyed home by Hackney.

Matthias Jaissle's Magpies pushed for a route back into the tie at the start of the second half, with Yoane Wissa and Dan Burn unable to take headed chances.

But Everton put the result beyond all doubt in the 69th minute, with Garner and Dewsbury-Hall involved again. The former slid the latter into the left-hand channel with a lovely pass, and after Dewsbury-Hall centred for Barry, the striker made no mistake.

Newcastle got a goal back two minutes from time, with Burn nodding Joe Willock's deep cross beyond Pickford, but that proved a mere consolation as a tetchy final few minutes passed without any further chances at either end.

Moyes ends fourth-round hoodoo

Thursday's victory had been a long time coming for Moyes, who had only won one of his previous seven EFL Cup fourth-round ties in charge of Everton, versus Luton Town in 2007-08.

Newcastle, by contrast, had reached the quarter-finals of this competition in four straight seasons, but after the 2025 winners were dumped out in meek fashion, the murmurs of discontent surrounding Jaissle's early leadership will only grow louder.

But judging by the underlying metrics, the Magpies were unfortunate not to progress, having fired off 28 shots (nine of which hit the target) to Everton's 11 (five on target).

Newcastle also narrowly edged the expected goals (xG) battle by 2.09 to 1.84 and created four big chances compared to three for their hosts, but their finishing touch deserted them.