BBC pundit Chris Sutton has been analysing Newcastle and Liverpool ahead of Sunday’s 4.30pm kick-off at St James’ Park.
He believes there’s been a “bit of a comedown” from our 5-1 win over Aston Villa as we didn’t quite take the game to Man City as much as some hoped we would, but explains why he sees us getting the better of Liverpool this weekend.
In his latest prediction piece, he’s hailed Liverpool’s attacking flair, with new signing Dominik Szoboszlai adding to the likes of Luiz Diaz, Mo Salah and Diogo Jota, but he’s questioned if they have enough protection in midfield to cope with Newcastle at the other end.
After all, Coady Gakpo started in last weekend’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth and the likes of Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister are not known for their defensive work. Mix that with Eddie Howe’s high-energy, all-action midfield of Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali and Sutton feels they could be in trouble, predicting a 3-1 win for the Toon.
Here’s what he wrote for BBC Sport ahead of the game:
‘Newcastle’s opening-day win against Aston Villa was a triumph and then it was a bit of a comedown for them. There was so much excitement that Newcastle could go there and take the game to Manchester City and they didn’t do that.
‘Liverpool have so many good attacking players – Luis Diaz’s goal last week was brilliant, Diogo Jota is a handful, Mohamed Salah of course and Dominik Szoboszlai looks a talented player, but do they have that midfield protection?
Sutton’s prediction: 3-1
