St James’ Park awaits – Newcastle v Liverpool preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Newcastle v Liverpool preview.

Wednesday 4th December 7.30pm

Newcastle United play host to table-topping Liverpool this Wednesday night, looking to put the last two non-performances behind them.

The Toon will need to be firing on all cylinders to take anything from a Liverpool team who have only lost one Premier League match this campaign.

The Scousers on the other hand will be hoping to extend their lead at the top of the table, as we begin one of the pivotal months of the Premier League season.

Fellow armchair fans will be delighted to hear the match is live on ‘Amazon Prime’, meaning this one can be watched for free by signing up to a trial on Amazon Prime.

In their past six league matches, Newcastle have won two, drawn one and lost three. These six matches have gained just seven points and seen the Toon score a measly six goals. It’s this type of inconsistency that sees us sitting in mid-table.

A good December however, could easily see us in European places due to the ridiculously tight nature of the table. We need to start putting a decent run together and that starts with this match.

Liverpool have won five of their past six league matches and drawn the other, placing them firmly at the top of the form table (as well as the full one). These sixteen points have been gained by scoring thirteen goals and conceding six.

They’ve been consistently good all season so far and have taken thirty four points from their thirteen matches. They will look to take a healthy points lead in the table into the new year.

A word of caution for any reds reading, that will count for very little come May – just ask Kevin Keegan!

Last time out

Newcastle suffered the ultimate kick in the teeth on Saturday when Crystal Palace scored in the ninety third minute to turn a Toon win into a draw. In all honesty, Newcastle didn’t deserve anything from this match and should be extremely grateful for the own goal that gave them the lead.

This was a toothless performance where United couldn’t even manage a shot on target. The manner of conceding may have been tough to take but ultimately this was a rotten performance and that needs to be put right.

Liverpool played Man City in a key battle for the title and came out well on top in a pulsating encounter. A fine 2-0 win at Anfield makes the reds hot favourites to win the league. They dominated from start to finish and could have been well out of sight before a late penalty wrapped up the points.

Stat attack

Newcastle have failed to win their past seven home matches with Liverpool. Drawing just two of those and losing five.

The Toon have racked up ten Premier League home wins against the reds.

The last thirty meetings on Tyneside between the two teams have seen just one 0-0 draw.

Liverpool have inflicted some heavy defeats on the Toon in the Premier League era. Lowlights include 6-0, 5-1 and 4-1 stuffings. The Toon’s best result being a 3-0 win courtesy of an Andy Cole hat-trick in 1993.

Memorable match

We’ve had some belters against this lot over the years. ‘Tis the season to be jolly so I’ll focus on this absolute Christmas cracker!

In December 2010, Alan Pardew took to the dugout for the first time following the controversial sacking of popular Chris Hughton. Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool were seen as formidable first opponents.

Newcastle got off to the perfect start when Kevin Nolan side-footed home Andy Carroll’s knockdown on fifteen minutes to give the Toon an early lead, which they’d take into the half-time break. All of the hard work looked to have been in vain When Dirk Kuyt equalised a few minutes into the second half and Liverpool pushed forward in search of further goals. Thankfully, the Toon were able to weather the storm and with ten minutes remaining, the score was still locked at 1-1.

To the delight of the Toon Army, the combative Joey Barton latched on to a loose ball and forced it into the net at the Gallowgate End in the eightieth minute to restore United’s advantage. The stadium erupted in celebration but the Toon weren’t done there. As the clock ticked past ninety minutes, Andy Carroll picked up the ball miles from goal and smashed in a simply superb drive to seal the victory with his tenth strike of the season. Final score Newcastle 3-1 Liverpool. Merry Christmas!

Played for both

James Milner signed for the Toon in 2004 and spent five seasons at United scoring a number of important goals. Memorable moments include a derby day equaliser away to the mackems and a glorious opener in a 2-2 draw with Man United.

His sale in 2008 was part of a transfer situation that angered manager Kevin Keegan to such an extent, that he walked out on Mike Ashley and won a case for constructive dismissal. Thiscausing a thirteen-year war between fans and owner that saw two relegations, numerous protests, mass boycotts, and a completely toxic situation for everyone concerned. Milner would represent many clubs throughout an impressive career and played for Liverpool between 2015-2022.

Jonjo Shelvey spent two years at Liverpool before signing for Swansea City. He Joined NUFC in 2016 and was instrumental in a victory on his debut against West Ham. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep us up but he did stay and was one of Rafa’s key players as we gained promotion in 2017.

A personal favourite memory is his performance and wild celebrations in a crucial 4-3 victory over Norwich with Newcastle’s last two goals coming five minutes into injury time.

Dietmar Hamman could have been a real fan favourite at the Toon having scored some cracking goals during his one and only season on Tyneside. Highlights include a fine equaliser at home to Arsenal, a belting freekick away at Forest and a great strike in a pre-season friendly with Juventus.

A dressing room bust-up with Ruud Gullit however at half-time in the 1999 FA Cup Final hardly endeared him to the manager. Despite this, Hamman gave gushing interviews about how happy he was at Newcastle and how he’d love to stay and win plenty of trophies. He then promptly jumped ship to Anfield a week later and NUFC fans never let him forget his lack of loyalty to the Toon.

Managers

Eddie Howe after a dismal 1-1 draw away at Crystal Palace –

“We didn’t have any goalmouth action but I felt we were good in the game. I felt we nullified them pretty well. In the main, I think we controlled it pretty well…It was a strange performance from us with the ball. There was a lot of good in the first two thirds but nothing in the final third. Lots of set plays. We look a little low on confidence. Losing Alex was a huge blow to that. Lacking the cutting edge up front.”

Arne Slot after a 2-0 win over title rivals Man City –

“It has been a good week, but let’s not get carried away too much. You saw when Darwin Nunez come on he had an impact in the game. There is so many games that have to be played. We have more than eleven players who can have an impact with our results that’s what you saw today. It is a team performance that helps us bring these results…What I liked most wasn’t us winning the game from just counter-attacking. We showed different qualities. In my opinion we were good in almost every aspect of the game.”

Charity

Newcastle United fans food bank will once again be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end and gratefully receiving food, money and toiletries for those in need. Of particular interest are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, cordial, long life milk etc) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give whatever you can, any donation is very much appreciated.

For further info and/or to donate online go HERE.

We do however seem to have a knack of turning up against the big teams and I fancy us to turn on the style again.

It might not be enough to win but a point would do very nicely indeed as we embark upon a potentially season-defining run of fixtures. Newcastle 1-1 Liverpool.