Everton v Newcastle Utd

Born in a chapel, built for a city; Everton's roots stretch back to a single parish congregation in 1878.

The club that would become Everton was formed as St Domingo's FC by the congregation of St Domingo Methodist New Connexion Chapel in the Everton district of Liverpool. Within a year, the club opened its doors beyond the parish and adopted the name Everton Football Club in 1879. It was one of the earliest organised football clubs in the north-west of England.

A landlord's quarrel gifted English football its first purpose-built stadium, and accidentally founded a rivalry that never quite went away.

Following a dispute with their Anfield landlord John Houlding, Everton relocated across Stanley Park to a new ground at Mere Green Field. Goodison Park was constructed at a cost of around £3,000 and became the first major purpose-built football stadium in England. Houlding, left with an empty ground, founded Liverpool FC to fill it. The rest, as they say, is a rather long argument.

Newcastle's debut top-flight season saw them face Everton, a club who had claimed the league title just two years prior.

Newcastle United, having been elected to the Football League's First Division in 1893, faced Everton in their inaugural top-flight season. Both clubs were already established forces. Everton had won the league title in 1891, while Newcastle were the dominant club in the north-east. The fixture quickly became a regular feature of the English football calendar, and has remained so for the vast majority of the years since.

Sandy Young's single goal handed Everton their first FA Cup, leaving Newcastle to rue yet another final defeat after losing three of the previous five.

Everton won the FA Cup for the first time in 1906, beating Newcastle United 1-0 in the final at Crystal Palace. Sandy Young scored the only goal. It was a particularly bitter pill for Newcastle, who had lost three of the previous five FA Cup finals. The result cemented the fixture as one with genuine needle, and the two clubs would continue to trade blows at the top of English football throughout the Edwardian era.

Sixty league goals in a single season; Dean's record still stands, unbroken, nearly a century on.

Everton won the First Division title in 1931-32 with Dixie Dean still prolific, then followed it with the FA Cup in 1933. Newcastle, meanwhile, won the Cup in 1932. The two clubs were genuine rivals at the summit of the English game during the inter-war period, regularly finishing in the top half of the table and drawing large crowds whenever they met. Dean's record of 60 league goals in a single season, set in 1927-28, remains unmatched.

Kendall's Everton claimed the league and a European trophy in the same season; Newcastle were watching from the Second Division.

Howard Kendall's Everton side were the finest in the club's history. They won the First Division title in 1984-85, the European Cup Winners' Cup (beating Rapid Vienna 3-1 in the final), and reached the FA Cup final. Newcastle, by contrast, were in the Second Division. The two clubs' paths diverged sharply during this period, though both would experience dramatic reversals of fortune in the decade that followed.

Twelve points clear in January, yet Newcastle's title slipped away one result at a time.

Kevin Keegan's Newcastle side played some of the most thrilling football the Premier League has ever seen, with Shearer, Beardsley, Ginola and Asprilla in full flow. They led the title race by 12 points in January 1996 before Manchester United reeled them in. Everton, who had narrowly avoided relegation the previous season, beat Newcastle 2-0 at Goodison Park in February 1996, one of several results that contributed to Newcastle's collapse. The fixture carried real weight that season.

Twenty years in the wilderness ended for Newcastle; Everton's season became a points-deduction survival act.

The two clubs found themselves on starkly different trajectories. Newcastle, revitalised by their Saudi-backed ownership, qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 2003 under Eddie Howe. Everton, meanwhile, were deducted points for breaching the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules, spending much of the 2023-24 season in a relegation fight. The fixture took on a David-and-Goliath quality, though Everton's stubborn resistance at Goodison Park remained a constant.

133 years at Goodison, gone. The longest top-flight tenancy in England, packed up and moved to the waterfront.

Everton's new 52,888-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock on Liverpool's waterfront is set to open for the 2025-26 season. It marks the end of 133 years at Goodison Park, the longest continuous tenancy of any top-flight ground in England. Fixtures against Newcastle at the new stadium will carry a different atmosphere entirely, but the history between these two clubs will travel with them. Over 200 competitive meetings, stretching across three centuries of English football.