Newcastle v Liverpool - Premier League match preview
Mags v Reds Newcastle take on Liverpool at St James' Park for the first time since the Reds handed out a walloping on Tyneside at the tail end of last season.
The final score was 6-0 that day and in all honesty it could have been more. We were woeful and even though it didn't end up costing us our Premier League status a defeat like that hurts all the same.
However if it is still fresh in my mind then the chances are that it is still going to be fresh in the minds of others including, hopefully, the players that were embarrassed on that day. Most of them will more than likely be playing again tomorrow and if a defeat like that doesn't inspire a reaction then I don't know what will. The question is will a reaction be enough against a Liverpool side who have started the season extremely well?
Newcastle:
Fabricio Coloccini will miss the game after picking up a groin injury whilst away on international duty with Argentina while his compatriot Jonas Gutierrez is also unavailable after returning to his homeland for personal reasons.
Steven Taylor is available again leaving Ryan Taylor and Massadio Haidara as Alan Pardew's only injury concerns.
Liverpool:
Glen Johnson, Aly Cissokho and Joe Allen should be available to Brendan Rodgers after recovering from injury. However Coutinho is unlikely to feature as he continues to recover from a shoulder operation.
Previously...
As mentioned earlier, the last meeting between the two sides ended in an embarrassing manner for the Magpies which kind of took the gloss off the point we managed to take away from Anfield in the early stages of last season.
Our record against Liverpool isn't good. At home we've won three of the last four and generally we've had the upper hand at St James' Park (P78, W31, D23, L24) but if you look at the overall record we tend to struggle. Out of 157 matches Liverpool have won 76 compared to only 43 victories for United with 38 draws roundign up the numbers.
Stats and facts...
Steven Gerrard is looking for his 100th Premier League goal.
Papiss Cisse has not scored a Premier League goal in over 1,000 minutes.
All of Newcastle's league goals this season have been scored by French players.
Final thought...
I always hate playing Liverpool as they always seem to end up playing the best they have done for a while against us. We seem to bring out the best in them which is worrying when you look at how they've started the season.
In Daniel Sturridge they have a striker who will cause problems and partnered with Luis Suarez they have two strikers who are physical, full of energy and full of tricks which is exaclly the kind we seem to struggle against.
I'm not hopeful of a result or anything if truth be told, but what I do expect to see is more effort than we managed against them last season. Alan Pardew says that the team is in a completely different place psychologically this time around, which is fair enough, but they need to show it for a full 90 minutes to stand any chance of getting a result.
Howay the lads!
Date: Saturday, 19th October, 2013
Time: 12:45pm
Venue: St James' Park
