Anfield awaits – Liverpool v Newcastle preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Liverpool v Newcastle preview.

Wednesday 26th Feb – 8:15pm.

Newcastle travel to one of their least favourite Premier League venues on Wednesday, looking for a first win at Anfield since a 1-0 League Cup success courtesy of a fine Steve Watson strike back in 1995.

The Toon have been on an incredible run of form since December, which continued during a somewhat bizarre match against Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

Liverpool meanwhile, will be hoping to extend their lead at the top of the table as they close in on, what seems to be, an inevitable conclusion of becoming champions of England once again.

Newcastle have won three and lost three of their past six league matches, with wins over Wolves, Southampton and Nottingham Forest having been balanced out by defeats to Bournemouth, Fulham and Manchester City. We’ve scored twelve goals in these games and conceded fourteen. We’ll end this set of fixtures between third and eighth place in the league.

Liverpool have won four and drawn two of their past six league games. Wins have come over Ipswich, Bournemouth, Wolves and Man City, whilst they’ve drawn with both Villa and Everton. They’ve scored fourteen goals in these games and conceded six. They’ll finish this set of fixtures in first place as they currently hold an eleven point lead over second place Arsenal.

Last time out

Newcastle hosted Nottingham Forest on Sunday and must have had something of a sinking feeling when going behind after just a few minutes. Thankfully, United didn’t let their heads go down and were soon on level terms through a fine strike by Lewis Miley. This started a crazy eleven minute period where the Toon scored three more goals through Murphy and an Isak brace (one penalty) meaning our Swedish Superstar had now netted fifty Premier League goals for NUFC. With the Toon 4-1 up half-time, it seemed the points were secure. The second half however was an incredibly nervous affair with Forest netting twice and pushing for what would have been a heartbreaking injury time equaliser. Thankfully a fourth Forest goal never materialised and NUFC were able to celebrate their most important league win of the season so far.

Liverpool travelled to Manchester City and ran out 2-0 winners. This was a tremendous result for the reds, especially when coupled with Arsenal’s defeat to Bournemouth. It would now take a brave man to bet against Liverpool winning the league. First half goals from Salah and Szoboszlai had Liverpool 2-0 up and this was a lead they never really looked like conceding. Liverpool won the game with only thirty four percent possession, meaning they were able to work smarter, not harder.

Stat attack!

(Look away now!)

Newcastle haven’t won a league match at Anfield since 1994. Goals from Robert Lee and Andy Cole gave the Toon a 2-0 win.

Newcastle have lost twelve of their last fifteen visits to Anfield with score draws coming in 2012, 2016 and 2021.

The Toon have lost six of their last seven matches at Anfield.

On the plus side:

Isak has scored on his past two appearances at Anfield and also netted against Liverpool at St James’ Park in December.

Newcastle have found the net in their last five matches away at Liverpool.

Memorable match

In 2002/03, Sir Bobby’s swashbuckling NUFC endured a tough start to the season as they struggled to adapt to the pressures of juggling both domestic and European commitments. The first five Premier League matches of the campaign saw just one win and only four points for the black and whites before Sir Bobby found his rhythm and had the Toon dancing towards a third place Premier League finish.

We went to Anfield having just lost to newly promoted Manchester City. Things looked bleak for the travelling Toon Army when second-half goals from former and future Mags Hamman and Owen saw us 2-0 down with just ten minutes left to play. The introduction of Craig Bellamy was to prove the turning point and his trickery down the left-hand side allowed Gary Speed to score a tap-in and halve the arrears. With Liverpool on the ropes and the Toon fans roaring on their heroes, Bellamy won a corner with just two minutes to play. Laurent Robert whipped in a cross and Alan Shearer buried a trademark header to send the away fans into raptures. The scene seemed set for a famous last-minute Anfield winner with United being the victors for a change. In injury time, Bellamy and Robert combined down the left, the ball was swiftly worked to Alan Shearer who slid in and smacked a shot towards goal. Unfortunately, this is where the fairytale ended and the effort was well saved by the Liverpool ‘keeper. Seconds later, Toon fans and players were celebrating a very well earned point. Final Score Liverpool 2-2 Newcastle.

Played for both

Ian Rush was an absolute legend at Liverpool and became a goalscoring great, netting over one hundred before moving on to Juventus. He was to return to Anfield and smash home many more on the way to becoming their all-time top scorer with three hundred and thirty-four goals for the reds. Almost thirty years on, he’s still regarded as one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players with plenty of medals to prove it. He spent a year at Leeds in 96/97 but, having been a professional for eighteen years, looked off the pace and netted only three league goals for the Yorkshire giants. Unbelievably, Kenny Dalglish signed him for NUFC during a disastrous summer that saw Sir Les Ferdinand sold on the same weekend that Alan Shearer picked up a long-term injury. Needless to say, that Rush wasn’t able to adequately replace either of the giant holes left in our strikeforce. He’d score two goals for the Toon, one against fourth tier Hull City to equal the record for all-time League Cup goals and one against Everton in a 1-0 FA Cup win that kickstarted a run to our first final in twenty four years.

Michael Owen burst onto the scene as a fresh-faced teenager for Liverpool and soon shocked the Premier League with his electric pace and eye for goal, that also illuminated England’s participation at the France ‘98 World Cup. The one-time Ballon D’or winner spent a season struggling at Real Madrid before sensationally signing for Graeme Souness’ NUFC in 2005, amid scenes of wild celebrations from almost twenty thousand fans congregated inside St James’ Park. This seemed like a match made in heaven. Highlights of his time on Tyneside include a hat-trick in a 4-2 win away at West Ham, a brace in a 3-0 success at West Brom and a derby day double as we beat Sunderland 2-0. Unfortunately, the lowlights are too numerous to mention, but his injury away at Spurs in 05/06 wrecked our season. Perceived as having a terrible attitude towards the club, he has gone down as one of NUFC’s most despised former players with his lack of effort being cited as a contributing factor to our relegation in 2009. A very public social media spat with Alan Shearer, as well as some incredibly ill-advised comments about the Toon, have hardly improved his relationship with the Geordie faithful.

Gini Wijnaldum spent a season at NUFC and scored an impressive eleven goals in our fruitless attempt to avoid relegation in 2016. He signed for Liverpool having scored twice against the reds in a 2-0 victory earlier in the season (although one was later credited as an own goal). Highlights include finding the net in a 3-3 draw against Man United and a brace in his last appearance which was a 5-1 victory over Tottenham. He’s fondly remembered by Liverpool fans for scoring twice in a memorable 4-0 victory over Barcelona that ensured a 4-3 aggregate success against the Catalan giants.

Managers

Eddie Howe after a 4-3 home win over Nottingham Forest:

“It was a crazy game. We’ve seen the best of us and the worst of us, really, in two forty five minutes. I thought we were outstanding in that first half, everything that we weren’t against Manchester City in our last game: dynamic, fluid, played with speed intensity, we sprinted. We attacked really well but we didn’t sustain it in the second half. We lost momentum and then couldn’t recapture it. There’s always relief when you win. It doesn’t matter whether you’re one goal or five goals up. We have to remember we did win the game, even though the feeling is probably very different after watching the second half.”

Arne Slot after a 2-0 win away at Manchester City:

“It is so hard to judge the league table before every game is played. In my opinion, Villa and [Man] City away are two very difficult games so you can drop points there. We are in a good position but we also know how hard it is to play against Wolves. Now we play Newcastle on Wednesday, who we drew 3-3 with. In every other league, having a lead like this would be comfortable. Three days ago we had a draw at Villa and people told me we weren’t in a good place and then three days later we win and it changes again. We work every single day to achieve this and it is three months of very hard work to maintain this. There is no secret. We are eleven points clear but Arsenal has one game in hand”.

Charity

As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online go HERE.

Prediction

My head is saying this may be a match too far for NUFC after a tremendous run of form stretching back to mid-December. My heart however feels we can be a match for anyone and the pressure is off Liverpool now they’ve built up such a lead in the race for the title. I’ll go for a draw with Isak scoring a late equaliser to keep the Toon firmly in the hunt for a place in the Champions League. Liverpool 1-1 Newcastle.

Monday 10 March – West Ham v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 16 March – Newcastle v Liverpool (4.30pm) Carabao Cup final – Sky Sports