GRAEME Souness has defended the form of the under-fire Jean-Alain Boumsong and revealed that the Frenchman is playing under the cloud of a "life-threatening" problem to his partner.

Boumsong missed this month's 1-0 win over Birmingham with a thigh strain, enabling him to return to France as his partner underwent surgery.

The 25-year-old defender was back on English soil last weekend, but his flawed display contributed to a second-half collapse as Newcastle lost 3-0 at Chelsea.

With Titus Bramble also turning in an error-strewn display, Souness was seething as he trudged from the field at Stamford Bridge. But, with both Steven Taylor and Stephen Carr injured, the Scot will name an unchanged defence as his side travel to Everton tomorrow.

Boumsong's personal problems have not gone away and, with Newcastle's fans criticising his performance last weekend, Souness has gone out of his way to praise both his focus and resolve.

"Jean-Alain has had things going on in his personal life," said the Newcastle boss. "There has been a life-threatening problem to a person who is very dear and very close to him.

"I am not asking people to be kind to him because of that - I just want them to accept that he has a hell of a lot on his mind. The fact that he is coming to work every day tells you everything you need to know about him.

"I understand some of the criticisms that have been made, but we have kept six clean sheets this season and Jean-Alain has been partnered by a 19-year-old, with a 21-year-old playing at full-back.

"I am privileged to work with him. You would expect me to say nice things about him because I paid a lot of money for him, but the supporters need to know that he is a proper professional.

"He will make mistakes, but he will give everything every time he walks on to the pitch."

Neverthless, Newcastle can ill afford a repeat of the errors that blighted their second-half display at Chelsea.

Everton's mini-revival was halted by last weekend's 4-0 thumping at West Brom but, in the likes of James Beattie and former Magpie Duncan Ferguson, David Moyes' side boast strikers capable of unsettling the most reliable of defences.

Bramble, in particular, needs to master the art of concentrating for the full 90 minutes of a game, with Souness admitting he is unable to teach his players how to cut out the unforced mistakes.

"It's all about concentration," he said. "You can't plan a training session that you can put on to eliminate the kind of mistakes that we made last week.

"It's about maintaining your concentration during every minute of the game. Good defenders have bells ringing in their heads and lights flashing in their eyes whenever there's a chance of anything going wrong.

"That spells danger and they deal with that. The best defenders should be fearing the worst at all times."

Souness was fearing the worst when he travelled to London last weekend, warning that Chelsea would be a "wounded animal" after their defeat to Manchester United.

Everton also have a point to prove after last weekend's humiliation and, while they are hardly in the same class as the league leaders, the United boss is expecting another stern examination.

"We played Chelsea last week on the back of them receiving criticism and that made them very dangerous," he added. "The same applies to Everton as they have been criticised lately.

"Evertonians will be surprised by their form this year and most of us in the game are surprised as well. They have good players and had a very good season last year.

"Some players built up big reputations last year and maybe the opposition have been after them a bit. We need to make sure we are as competitive as they are."