Newcastle v Liverpool – Premier League match preview

toonsy

Mags v Reds
Mags v Reds
With just four Premier League games remaining, and with United still in a perilous league position, the need to pick up points as soon as possible shouldn’t need to be highlighted.

I’m going out on a limb here, but I honestly think one win would make us safe and would ensure we have Premier League football next season after this disastrous campaign. Mathematically it’s not enough, but that one win should realistically be enough.

Getting those points as soon as possible is the ideal scenario. The pressure would be off us and would be applied to the teams below us – namely Wigan and Aston Villa – who are now the only two sides below us who can catch us.

Standing in the way of us getting those three points are a Liverpool side who have been dragged through the press this week due to the actions of their cannibalistic striker Luis Suarez and his well documented biting incident culminating in the Uruguayan being handed a ten-game suspension, a suspension he is considering contesting.

Newcastle:

It’s slightly better news on the injury front for United for this match. According to Alan Pardew, Hatem Ben Arfa is looking fitter, Cheik Tiote has trained, Papiss Cisse is fine and Fabricio Coloccini is closing in on a return although is unlikely to feature in this game.

News is still awaited regarding the availability of Sylvain Marveaux although I suspect he’ll be out and will join Tim Krul, Davide Santon, Ryan Taylor and Haris Vuckic on the sidelines.

Liverpool:

Luis Suarez is most definitely suspended for this one. Even if he decides to appeal the length of the ban he has already admitted violent conduct so will serve the mandatory three-game ban that such an offence carries. The only part of the punishment he could appeal is the additional seven games added onto his violent conduct charge which hopefully clarifies things.

Suarez won’t be the only absentee however as Martin Kelly, Joe Allen and Fabio Borini are all out injured.

Previously…

United managed a 1-1 draw at Anfield earlier on in the season courtesy of a fine goal by Yohan Cabaye which was subsequently cancelled out by the Angry Beaver.

Newcastle have the upper-hand historically at St James’ Park. In total, 77 games have been played on Tyneside with United coming out on top on 31 occasions compared to 23 victories for Liverpool.

Overall though it is the Reds who hold the advantage when all games at all grounds are considered. There have been 157 meetings between the two sides with Liverpool winning 76 times, Newcastle winning 43 times with 38 draws making up the numbers.

Stats and facts:

Newcastle are looking for a third successive home win over Liverpool. If they are successful it will be the first time we’ve managed three home wins on the spin against the Reds for 63 years.

United have the third worst defensive record in the league having conceded 60 goals already this term. Only Reading and Aston Villa have conceded more.

The winning team in this fixture has scored a minimum of two goals in the last 12 league meetings.

Survival watch:

Reading and QPR play on Sunday in what is essentially a relegation play-off. Whichever side loses will be relegated whilst the other side will live to fight another day. A draw could see both sides relegated if Aston Villa manage at least a point at home to Sunderland on Monday night.

Wigan host Tottenham prior to our match. If Wigan lose and we win our game they will be nine points behind us with only four games to play meaning that we would have to lose all of our games whilst Wigan try and win three of their four remaining fixtures after the Tottenham game. A Wigan win though would see the pressure cranked up on us, especially if we fail to beat Liverpool.

Bizarrely, if all results go our way including ours, then we could find ourselves in 12th place come the end of the weekend, above the Mackems, nine points away from 18th place with two of the three relegation places gone.

Final thought:

It’s going to be another cagey affair but a win at any cost is what matters the most. I’m even past the stage of caring how we play as long as we get the three points.

Of course not having to face Luis Suarez is a massive plus, but Liverpool are still dangerous and still have other players who can inflict damage upon us, and by that comment I mean the likes of Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge.

To sum it up, anything could happen.

Howay the lads!

Date: Saturday, 27th April, 2013

Time: 17:30

Venue: St James’ Park

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

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284 thoughts on “Newcastle v Liverpool – Premier League match preview”

  1. Lads you are drinking the wrong Cider ,as a west country girl I can advise to steer clear of Diamond white,White Lightening ,K ,strongbow et al and try the still stuff like Scrumpy or if it has to be mainstream then Natch is ok and Blackthorn (original recipe ) not the new one (yuk ). In all honesty if it ain’t got stuff floating in it it’s not the real deal.

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  4. Kimtoon….you can’t beat a couple of floaters in your drink 🙂 when they start doing the back stroke you need to worry.. :-9

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  6. if something is floating in your drink here in Oz, you have to be careful that you don’t get bitten by the feckin thing 🙂 🙂

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  8. Munich on your Bundesliga breakdown link
    I see that winning the Deutsche Pokal gets you a Europa place, is that a new ruling? I was under the impression only EPL and Ligue 1 gave a euro place to cup winners. Not important I know, just curious.
    I noticed no one has committed on the N’koulou for £ + Saylor link, what are your thoughts?

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  9. @Kim & lads

    It was me Batty. I got £100 on eBay. 😛 I was working for the council and we did a night shift and I collected it and then sold it. Its called perks of the job. 😉

    Batty, I must say, there was unusual stuff found down the back of it like. A copy of Australian train spotting weekly and instructions how to play the didgireedoo. 😯 have you had AMF over on vacation? 😆 😆 😆

    Somebody somewhere will be sitting on the snot green sofa thinking they’ve got a bargain.

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  10. AMF i didnt mind sitting out at night over there,mossie ,rhino beetles,possems,spiders a golf club for the cane toads ect,but when the fruit bats **** in my j/b i really was pissed off

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  11. Icedog@160…**** that, the picnic season must be canny crack ower Aussies way. I wouldn’t imagine him drining this fizzy girly lager stuff will help either … 🙄

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  12. Andymag@158, I’m off to get me heed sharpened before the big match today, I’ll get back to you later mate…. 😉

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  18. Hate this kick off time. 2.30am for me. Just unscrewed the top of a new bottle of Johnny Walker in preparation for a long night. Slept most of the day.

    And I had a dream in which I saw some football results. Newcastle scored 4, but I can’t recall who it was against.

    I’ll be mighty depressed if we lose.

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  24. Gouff to get a brace today, you heard it hear first… no need to thank me.. 🙂

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  26. First bad news of the day fan ovens knacked 🙁 ,top oven it is then ,that means tommorows beef gets crucified :(. Off to curry’s monday ,thing is falling apart anyway ,bit like Toons season.

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  29. not mathematically.
    Play with the BBc predictor and if every result between now and the end of the seas goes against us it could be that it will take 44pts to be safe on goal difference

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  31. FSOTC I think Cisse’s frustration is being reflected in his play. It cannot be easy having the burden of carrying all the toons goalscoring hopes on his shoulders, especially when his team mates aren’t backing him up…
    He seems to have started hoying himself around more this season. Pardew has obviously told him to put himself about more.

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  32. Kim – yeah but my car was broken into last night and the radio stolen, so I’m wondering if that is in someway a sign as well 😆 (I hope I haven’t jinxed myself now, and me car does get screwed now 😕 )

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  33. 4-3-1-2 please please please Pards and give the defence some cover and Cisse some support please. You know it makes sense coz ya 4-2-3-1 system isn’t working mate.

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  35. Sharpy
    Why is that match even on tv. It’s a mid table team v a team who at best can finish 2nd not exactly a clash of the titans.

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  37. Andy. It on here in the states too. Think its the only match ongoing at the moment.

    Nice triple header on here today with our lads finishing it off

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  38. The timing of this game is fucking me up today too–the wife has planned a picnic with some friends at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and watching this game is going to put me in the doghouse for a good long while.

    Anybody know how to watch the game on delay online?

    I don’t have Tivo or any of the reply tech at home.

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  39. would like pards to try 4 3 1 2

    debucy saylor Mbwia haidara

    sissoko tiote anita
    cabs
    cisse benny

    might be too narrow though, if not straight 433

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  40. Fans, I can’t believe you are asking that question mate, if your missus loves you she will understand and given a lot of time she eventually will forgive you for missing the picnic 🙂 🙂

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  41. Surely there’s a pub in park slope that shows footy. Just tell the wife you fee like taking a stroll through the garden on this fine spring day and just disappear for two hours or so

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  42. Yeah, there’s a place that shows games but I’m not sure if they’re showing it. Problem is the exact timing–kick off at 12:30 in NYC, Hanami picnic at 1:00. She’s giving me a pass to come late, but two hours late is pretty effing late.

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  47. Fans – only one answer mate – move to England!!
    It fucking rains that often over here we don’t have picnics 🙄

    Aussie – picnics are eating outside, but without the BBQ mate – just incase you were wondering 😉

    Andy – completely agree with you. They are also 2 teams who I have absolutely no feeling toward either way to be honest.

    Instructatoon. Agree with the formation but for me it would be: Cabaye/Sissoko/Anita – Benny infront of them and Cisse and Gouffran up top.

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  48. Fans, that’s the spirit mate 🙂 you don’t want to end up like Icedog, his missus won’t even let him use the laptop to talk footy. 🙂 🙂
    I’ve pissed my missus off that much over the years that she has given up on trying to get me to tow the line 🙂 it took some work but I got there in the end 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  50. Sharpy 🙂 thanks for clearing that up… I thought he was talking about a chocolate bar 🙂

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  51. Picnics sound soooo quaint. I imagine hampers and little girls and teddy bears, and a few bambis prancing in the background. Snow White singing to the birds. Ahhh, so nice. 😆

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  57. Please don’t tell me you have those sites bookmarked….

    Though the Japanese sword fighting sounds interesting

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  63. So what’s the Aussie version of a picnic? I picture shrimp on the barbie, giant cans of Fosters, and herds of kangaroos playfully hopping about

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  64. MDS, close mate, but those kangaroo’s are not playfully hopping about, we are eating the fukers 🙂 🙂

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  65. Prawns, mate, prawns. We put prawns on the barbie … the rest is just about spot on. And koalas pissing on you from the treetops, and giant spiders and snakes and dropbears and arboreal turtles. But you don’t worry about those things, you just sit on the termite mounds and have a beer.

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  68. Drop bears, now there is a nasty little marsupial. I had a mate that was attacked by one of them, he was hospitalised afterward..

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  69. A hamper is that basket that Yogi Bear used to steal things from. It’s what Red Riding Hood took to her grandmother. It’s the thing you give to people at Xmas, filled with puddings and jam and biscuits.

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  70. No koalas on the bbq, kangaroos yes, taste pretty ordinary if you ask me..

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  73. You’re certainly in touch with your fictional characters today Vegas 🙂

    Hands up if you are sick of that feckin Kasabian song they play for the football telecasts… it does my head in….

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  74. I see. I think we go for “picnic basket.” We got ourselves a basket switcheroo going here.

    Oz – USA phrase book:
    Dirty clothes basket = hamper
    hamper = picnic basket

    Please do not put your barbecued kangaroo in my hamper.

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