Kieran Trippier gifts Everton early Christmas present at Goodison Park tonight

Newcastle United were comprehensively beaten by Everton at Goodison Park tonight with the hosts coming away with a 3-0 win.

It was a game that lacked a lot of quality in front of goal from both sides but had that quality been there, it still would have been the Toffees who came out on top.

The fact that Everton's goals came so late on shows how they had to wait until Newcastle's legs had completely gone before they could take full advantage.

Newcastle's players looked knackered

Newcastle's 10 outfield players played their fourth game in succession with very few substitutions amongst those games, and it really started to show towards the end of the game.

Tony McArdle via Getty Images

Kieran Trippier made two awful errors that gifted Everton their goals, and both errors were clearly a result of him being completely spent. Then to add insult to injury it was he who played Beto onside for his goal after a VAR check.

As frustrating as it is, it's so hard to point fingers of blame, and while we've singled out Trippier here, we have to acknowledge that it's not really his fault.

The injury crisis is definitely taking its toll

With so many players missing, Eddie Howe has to rely on players he can trust, and Trippier is obviously high on the list of trusted players. That being said, surely Howe can see if Trippier is not 100% and should then be looking to use Lewis Hall or Emil Krafth to give Trippier a chance to recuperate.

It wasn't just Trippier who struggled tonight, though, only a couple of players looked anywhere close to their best with so many completely off the pace as will no doubt be reflected in our upcoming player ratings.

Eddie Howe really needs to start thinking about what it is that's making us play so bad when away from St James' Park and looking to fix it ASAP. Hurry up, January!