With the season fast approaching fans of Newcastle United will be wondering how their team will cope back in the top flight after a season away.

Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood did a fantastic job stabilising the club and leading them to promotion at the first attempt but have they got enough quality at their disposal to keep the ‘Toon Army’ in the Premier League. Personally I believe they do. The additions of Sol Campbell and Dan Gosling strengthen a squad which is already full of experienced Premier League players. Although a lot of these players underperformed the last time the club were in the Premiership they will be keen to put things right. Players like Alan Smith and Kevin Nolan are experienced professionals and will not want to suffer the heartache of relegation again. Add to that the quality of players like Jonás Gutiérrez and I can’t help but feel Newcastle will be ok.

The one area of the team that would concern me is their strike force. Ameobi, Carroll and Best are all relatively unproven at this level and I would not bet on any of them scoring more than 12 league goals during the season. Newcastle fans can relax though as I think there are three teams who will struggle more than them this campaign. Everyone on Tyneside will then hope that the club push on and establish themselves as one of the country’s top sides again. Do you think Newcastle have enough to survive?

EPL Talk reader EPLNFL was at last night’s friendly between Chicago Fire and Everton at Toyota Park. Here’s his mini-report from the game:

“As a Fire fan I had a great time with a 2-0 Chicago victory. As a EPL fan I was disappointed in Everton and the quality of play. They were extremely cautious with the ball during the first half moving the ball more backwards then forward at times. In the second half, they came out more aggressive and tried to break the ball up the middle — with no results however.

Clearly Everton is training and weary from the US Tour, but the Fire was without Blanco and McBride which leaves them with no offense. David Moyes is a favorite of mine and, of course Tim Howard I follow with great interest, but if Everton keeps up this form it’s the bottom half of the table this season!

There were about 250 people in the American supporters group for Everton and an additional group of English fans on the US tour. The American supporters seemed to be a very good group and no trouble was seen by me. The tour group seemed to be on the verge of a beer too many but gave no trouble.”

To view more photographs from the game, visit the EPL Talk photos section.

Thanks to EPLNFL (aka Lou Bruno) for providing the photos and mini-match report. A more detailed match report will be published tomorrow.

Editor’s note: To be fair, this was not Everton’s first team squad. Several players got a run-out for the Toffees including new faces Jose Baxter, Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell.