LIVERPOOL VS. NEWCASTLE

| Saturday, January 31st |
Premier League | Anfield
8PM BST/3PM EST

Newcastle will be without Joelinton and Tino Livramento, and both Bruno Bruno Guimarães and Jacob Murphy have just returned to training so their involvement is unclear. Guimarães would be a boost for Eddie Howe’s side, as he’s been their reliable attacking threat when it comes to line-breaking runs.

No matter what Anthony Gordon says about the freedom of the Champions League, we can expect Newcastle to make this an ugly affair once again, even if they’re without one of their physical bullies. That Alexander Isak is unavailable for Liverpool through injury will possibly help matters, but this one should be a tense one regardless.

Newcastle have not won at Anfield in any of their last 29 attempts in the league, their joint-longest winless record at any opponent ground and the only active streak.

The Magpies have had mixed form of late, though they did manage a draw against PSG midweek and a win against PSV the week before; in the Premier League, though, they have been following Liverpool’s pattern, with losses to Aston Villa and Manchester City and a draw to Wolves closing out their last five games. They have also been a low-scoring side away from home, with only Wolves and Sunderland (7) failing to score in more away games than Newcastle’s six.

Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)

Alisson; Szoboszlai, Konaté, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Jones Salah, Ekitike, Wirtz

Liverpool are without Jeremie Frimpong for a few weeks, as the right back joins Conor Bradley on the injury list. Should Joe Gomez be fit enough to start we should see him out on the right; if not, we’ll have another makeshift right back again — given the challenge of Newcastle I would expect the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, as he has been the strongest of the makeshifts this season, and could still link with Mohamed Salah on the right wing to form an attacking threat.

Miloš Kerkez will likely come in at the left, and Ibrahima Konaté could return to the starting lineup following an absence to mourn the passing of his father. The rest of the lineup decisions have less to do with fitness (though Curtis Jones has just returned from illness) and more to do with strategy: Arne Slot has lately wanted a strong attacking player available to come on from the bench rather than playing all the most productive players from the start, so he could hold someone back.

Liverpool are unbeaten in 18 against Newcastle in the Premier League, and have settled for a draw just five times in that span. The meeting early in this season was a memorable affair, and took late heroics from the young Rio Ngumoha to achieve all three points. Newcastle will want to make up for that lapse, with Liverpool scoring from perhaps their one fluid passing move in what was a turgid game. Should Liverpool win, however, the Reds will complete the league double over Newcastle for the 12th total time, which would become the most league doubles over a single opponent for the Reds.

Liverpool are winless in five, however, and ended a period of uninspiring draws with a late loss last weekend. Given Newcastle’s struggles and Liverpool’s own issues in front of goal in the league, this could be a low-scoring affair.

The Managers Have Their Say

Arne Slot: “It’s obvious that the closer you come to the end, the less chance you have to make a mistake. We are now in a position that we cannot afford a lot of mistakes anymore because we have made far too many. When I say mistakes I mean giving away goals in the last minutes, or we don’t do any justice on the performance in terms of the score. So it is clear and obvious that the closer you come to the end then there is not a lot of room for mistakes anymore.”

Eddie Howe: “Historically it has been a great fixture. We want to try and do that justice by being the best we can.”

The Officials

Referee: Simon Hooper Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Long Fourth official: Sam Barrott VAR: Craig Pawson Assistant VAR: Lee Betts

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