Two sides in desperate need of a victory will go clash on Sunday as Newcastle United host Everton at St James' Park.

For a month that started so well, with victory over the previously unbeaten Chelsea in the first week, December has proven to be a costly one for the Magpies so far.

Indeed, the win over Chelsea is their only triumph in their last seven matches, and they go into Sunday's game having lost their four most recent outings in all competitions.

That run includes comfortable defeats to Arsenal and Manchester United, an emphatic exit from the League Cup at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur and, most damaging of all, a last-gasp loss to bitter rivals Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby.

It has been an eventful year for Newcastle and Alan Pardew, and the manager will be keen to end it on a high, if only to stave off the threat of renewed complaints about his tenure from the fans.

He will be boosted by the return of Cheick Tiote from suspension, but once again third-choice keeper Jak Alnwick will start between the sticks due to injuries to Tim Krul and Rob Elliot.

Mehdi Abeid, Siem de Jong, Rolando Aarons, Gabriel Obertan and Ryan Taylor are all injury concerns for the hosts, but Papiss Cisse should return to the starting lineup following his league-high fifth goal from the bench in the Boxing Day defeat to Manchester United.

While their general form has been poor of late, the derby defeat to Sunderland was only Newcastle's second home loss of the season and first since the opening day, so they will be confident of returning to winning ways against an out-of-sorts Everton side.

Roberto Martinez will not have expected to start 2015 in the bottom half, but anything other than a victory on Sunday will guarantee that being the case.

They are already 11 points adrift of the top four, and failure to improve on their recent form of just one win in seven matches in all competitions could see those Champions League places move out of reach sooner rather than later.

The Toffees were booed off the field following their disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Stoke City on Boxing Day - the fourth time in their last five outings that they have failed to find the back of the net.

Their search for goals will not be helped by a suspension to Steven Naismith, who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against the Potters.

There was even more bad news for Martinez on the injury front in that match, with Tim Howard, Phil Jagielka, John Stones and Kevin Mirallas all doubtful for the trip to the Tyneside.

Everton have a good recent record against Newcastle, winning four and losing none of their last five meetings, but they have only beaten struggling West Bromwich Albion and Burnley on the road this season, and have lost their last three away games in the league.

Newcastle:

Form in Premier League: LDWLLL
Form in all competitions: DWLLLL

Possible starting lineup: Alnwick; Janmaat, Taylor, Coloccini, Dummett; Colback, Tiote, Sissoko, Gouffran; Ayoze Perez, Cisse

Everton:

Form in Premier League: LDLWLL
Form in all competitions: DLLWLL

Possible starting lineup: Robles; Coleman, Alcaraz, Distin, Baines; McCarthy, Barry, McGeady, Eto'o, Barkley; Lukaku

Sports Mole says: 1-0