Newcastle vs Liverpool
| Wednesday, December 4th |
Premier League | St. James’ Park
7:30PM BST / 2:30PM ET
After thoroughly defeating the reigning champions of of both the Premier League and oil-money cheating at the weekend, Liverpool will look to repeat the effort against the runners-up in one of those categories, as Newcastle play hosts to the Reds on Wednesday night.
The blood money adventure has been a rocky ride for the Magpies since they were purchased by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia back in 2021, and after a top four finish in Howe’s second year at the helm, Newcastle dropped down to seventh place last season. They currently sit in 11th, with a neutral goal difference, underlying numbers to match, and almost exactly the same number of wins, draws and losses.
The Geordies haven’t recorded a league win over the Reds in nine years, stretching back to December of 2015, when a Martin Skrtel own goal and a deft Gini Wijnaldum chip was enough to undo an early iteration of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Howe will be without star striker Alexander Isak tomorrow, as the Swede has yet to recover from a hip injury, while Jamaal Lascelles, Emil Krafth and Sven Botman will also miss out. Super-sub Harvey Barnes and divey Liverpool fan Anthony Gordon look set to start, however.
Projected Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)
Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones; Diaz, Núñez, Salah
For the Reds, Alisson Becker is nearing a return, and is expected to feature again before the end of the year, but Caoimhin Kelleher will be the starter tomorrow night. Trent Alexander-Arnold was substituted after 70 minutes on Sunday and is likely to start, facing no threat from an inured Conor Bradley, while Kostas Tsimikas’ continued injury absence indicates another start for Andy Robertson. Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk will continue their successful partnership from Sunday.
In midfield, Curtis Jones could be back in the XI, although only as a matter of managing minutes rather than form, since all three of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai were roundly excellent against Manchester City. Harvey Elliott was back on the pitch on Sunday, but is likely to see more substitute minutes tomorrow than he is a starting berth. Wataru Endo exists.
Up top, Federico Chiesa is back in team training and could be on the bench, while Darwin Núñez should replace one of Luis Díaz or Cody Gakpo as the central striker. Mohamed Salah will not rest until every record belong to him.
What the Managers Said
Arne Slot: “We thought Madrid and City were very difficult teams to face – which they actually were as well – I think it’s even harder to go [for] an away game to Newcastle.”
Eddie Howe: “Every time you play opposition like Liverpool you learn new things. It will be a great occasion under lights at St James’ park and have to create that atmosphere against them.”
The Officials
Referee: Andy Madley
Assistant referees: Wade Smith, Craig Taylor
Fourth official: Anthony Backhouse
VAR: Stuart Attwell, James Mainwaring
Kickoff is set for 7:30PM GMT/2:30PM ET tomorrow, and television listings for the match can be found on LiveSoccerTV.
In the meantime, and as always, we’ll be keeping you updated with all the buildup to the game, including team news as it’s released, our live matchday thread, and post-match recaps from The Liverpool Offside staff. If you want to join the discussion, sign up for an SB Nation account to have your say on the action as it happens.