Newcastle v Liverpool – Premier League match preview

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.

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

  1. FSOTC@188, tell your lass how it is like a proper geordie mate 🙂 Saturday is match day aaal ower the world 🙂

      (Quote)

  2. Drop bears sound hilarious but in reality are scary buggers 😕 . You ever tried croc Aussie?
    FSOTC
    Got another one for you 😉 . So when are Bris and AMF expecting their parole 😕 😆 . Is that racist? I don’t know but I know you get arrested if you say it.

      (Quote)

  3. Drop bears are brachiating marsupials that drop on you from tree branches. Have a nasty bite.

      (Quote)

  4. Kasabian are a band that have a song that plays at the start of every game etc
    Andy, bloody racist 🙂 🙂 yep have eaten croc, it tastes like chicken 🙂

      (Quote)

  5. I dont find myself hating spurs near as much as I did when ‘arry was there. Id love to see them in the CL over Chelsea or Arsenal. A win against Wigan would be quite nice

      (Quote)

  6. Aussie
    That’s what I’ve heard, would like to try it, heard Roos taste chewy is that right?

      (Quote)

  7. We sometimes raise our game against better opponents. So if we do i think we will win 3-2 and if not 1-3 loss.

    How **** our the spurs fans they only ever sing one song 😀

      (Quote)

  8. Took our lass for a picnic for our 1st date. Flask of boiling hot water and 2 chicken and mushroom pot noodles – taste even better alfresco!! … Geet romantic 😉

    I see Carroll notched again today!. Bring him back to the toon for me like!.

      (Quote)

  9. Bale does it again Spurs 0-1 up.

    Bale got a deflection off the GK (trying) kicking it up the field

    Oh no 1-1 now lol this is going to be a good game 😀

      (Quote)

  10. Bris
    Isn’t that bat droppings?
    FSOTC
    If you make a joke in oz about it being a former prison colony then you get arrested for racism ie (true story)
    A man arrives in an oz airport, he gets asked whether he had any criminal convictions, he replies with didn’t know it was mandatory. He then spends two weeks in jail.

      (Quote)

  11. Reet, checklist for match

    Trunks – check 😯
    Wrestling boots – check 😯
    Cape – check 😯
    Young Chip – check 😯
    Chips trunks – check 😯
    Chips wrestling boots – check 😯
    Chips – cape , chips cape ?? 😕 Mrs S!!! Where’s Chip’s cape? 😈
    “Chip go Grandad Les’s memorabilia cabinet and grab his cape – check 😛

    Reet – see ya’s laters!

      (Quote)

  12. Spurs need to target Bousejour at LB more with Bale, they did at the start but seem to have forgotten.

      (Quote)

  13. Andy, roo does taste chewy mate 🙂 I don’t rate it at all, good dog food…

      (Quote)

  14. Sharpy @182 ,Wow that’s bad luck mate 🙁

    MDS@195 😆

    Newkie@251 ,Great minds @248 😉

      (Quote)

  15. If people are talking about hitting the eject button on Pards, what about Martinez? He looses his best players every summer, spends the season rebuilding and always has his team playing attractive passing stuff. What could he do with a decent budget and some consistent support?

      (Quote)

  16. Think they should drug test the Wigan players, Martinez must only give it to them at the end of the season so as to not cause suspicion. If they survive another season then it’s ridiculous, would rather villa go down though.

      (Quote)

  17. Everton 1 up against Fulham – all square stoke vs norwich – west brom 1 up against s/hmpton.

      (Quote)

  18. FSOTC
    Martinez only seems to have his team playing well 2nd half of the season so I don’t know if that’s the players or him

      (Quote)

  19. Andy,that’s kind of my point–he has to rebuild his team every fall because his best players get sold off in the summer and by the end of the season, he’s always got that newly assembled team playing pretty well, it seems. Dunno…

      (Quote)

  20. Kim
    Reptiles hold a very close genetic bond with birds so its not strange that their meat tastes similar as the latter evolved from the former.

      (Quote)

  21. If Martinez is so good why’s his team always in a relegation fight? I would hate that if I was a Wigan fan ,bloody awfull to go through that every season.

      (Quote)

  22. That’ll be why frogs legs taste like chicken then . Rabbit is a bit chickeny tasting though . Braised bunny with onions is lush .

      (Quote)

  23. Andy stop telling lies everything was created by a wizard who lives in the clouds. He just liked that taste so he give it to everything 😛

      (Quote)

  24. Sorry Santii, can’t help myself from spouting that rubbish 😉 , it was obviously Kukulkan the great plumed serpent that inspired man to build his great monuments 😆

      (Quote)

  25. Well, we have a definite advantage today because at least we know where we stand, can see the other results, and know what we need to do against Liverpool. There again, if we didn’t know before hand we want a good kicking.

    The majority of the results going against the toon so far is setting up the Liverpool game even nicer … if the toon aren’t up for it today there’ll be hell on… 😈 😈

    Howay the lads !!

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *