Steven Taylor wary of Romelu Lukaku threat

Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor has warned his side that they cannot afford to show the same respect to Everton as they did to Manchester United.

The Magpies slumped to their fourth consecutive defeat on Boxing Day as the Red Devils cruised to a 3-1 success at Old Trafford, a match that Taylor believes was "too easy" for the hosts.

Everton are in poor form themselves with just one win in their last seven in all competitions, but Taylor is wary of the threat posed by the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley.

"We made it far too easy for [Man Utd]. We showed them too much respect," Taylor told reporters. "We should have been right in their faces and put a few tackles in during the first five or 10 minutes like we did against Chelsea.

"We need to put pressure on the opposition. We need to test them out. If you give them that much respect, anyone can look good and we made them look good.

"[Lukaku] is an absolute beast - a top player. And they have players like Barkley, another top player. They have good players left, right and centre that will hurt you if you give them time on the ball, so it's up to us to stand up and put our head in the way."

Newcastle currently sit 10th in the Premier League table, two points above Everton going into Sunday's clash between the two sides.