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

Welcome to the Newcastle v Liverpool preview.

Monday 25th August 8pm kick-off.

All eyes will be on St James’ Park this bank holiday Monday as Newcastle United play host to Liverpool in their first home match of the season, live on Sky Sports.

The atmosphere promises to be absolutely electric as the two teams go toe-to-toe with some very public off-field wranglings adding a fascinating backstory to a fixture that has had more than its fair share of drama over the years.

The Magpies will be hoping for a repeat of their Wembley heroics in March when they completely outplayed Liverpool in a well-deserved and comprehensive cup final victory.

The Toon had a mixed bag of results throughout pre-season and enjoyed just the one victory over Carlisle United. It was a relief when the real deal started at Villa Park and a dominant display from United was rewarded with a point that could well have been all three. Played one, drawn one.

Liverpool won five of their six pre-season friendlies with wins coming over Preston, Stoke, Yokohama and Athletic Bilbao (twice). They also lost 4-2 to AC Milan in Hong Kong. Their one league match so far this season was a 4-2 victory over Bournemouth. Played one, won one.

Last time out

Newcastle kicked off their season away to Aston Villa last Saturday and put in a fine performance in a 0-0 draw that should have seen the Toon leave Villa Park with all three points. A dominant first half had everything except the opening goal and when the Villains were reduced to ten men with twenty-five minutes still to play, the scene was set for a fine away day victory. Unfortunately, Villa shut up shop and played for the draw that many Toon fans would have taken before kick-off.

Liverpool hosted Bournemouth last Friday night in a match that had to be delayed due to racist abuse from a Liverpool fan. The reds took a 2-0 lead before being pegged back to 2-2. A topsy-turvy match swung back Liverpool’s way near the end when they scored two late goals to seal a 4-2 victory.

Newcastle haven’t won a home match against Liverpool since Dec 2015.

The Toon have enjoyed ten Premier League home wins over Liverpool.

Liverpool have won five of their last eight visits to St James’ Park and drawn the other three.

Newcastle netted five goals against Liverpool last season, three in the league and (gloriously) two in the Cup Final.

Memorable match

In 2000, Sir Bobby’s team were reeling from a desperately disappointing derby day defeat to arch-rivals Sunderland when Liverpool rocked up to St James’ Park, hoping to inflict more misery upon the Toon Army.

Just four minutes in however, Nobby Solano broke free to finish an effort at the Leazes End to send the black and white supporters into delirium! Anyone concerned that this may be a flash in the pan needn’t have worried, as Newcastle took the game to their illustrious opponents. It seemed only a matter of time before United doubled their advantage with efforts from Robert Lee and Gary Speed going close. Liverpool tried to take back some momentum and couldn’t believe it when Robbie Fowler missed an open goal after Hypia’s header hit the bar and then Andy Griffin cleared a Nicky Bamby effort off the line.

Not content with just the one-goal lead, Kieron Dyer raced through to double the advantage with a spectacular effort at the Gallowgate with just twenty minutes left to play and St James’ exploded in celebration at one of the highlights of the season. There was still time for Liverpool to pull one back through Emile Heskey but the day belonged to United. Final score Newcastle 2-1 Liverpool.

Played for both

John Barnes was a Liverpool legend when playing for the reds between 1987 and 1997. He scored eighty-four goals in this ten-year spell and was an integral part of many England squads.

He signed for Kenny Dalglish’s NUFC towards the twilight of his career. Barnes scored six league goals in the 97/98 season and people forget how crucial they were. All coming in wins or draws, without Barnes we may well have got relegated that season as we avoided the drop by just four points, despite finishing runners up the previous year. He also rifled in a fine effort at home to Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League and claimed an assist for Shearer’s winner in the FA Cup semi-final.

Craig Bellamy signed for Sir Bobby Robson in 2001 and spent three and a half eventful years on Tyneside, before leaving under a cloud when falling out with Graeme Souness. Memorable moments include scoring in back to back home games against the Mackems and an incredible performance away to Feyenoord, when his two goals (including a last-minute winner) ensured qualification for the last sixteen of the Champions League.

Less impressive was a number of off-field incidents, fall outs, disciplinary problems and senseless bookings that contributed to NUFC being everyone’s favourite soap opera club. He signed for Celtic then Blackburn before playing for Liverpool, scoring seven league goals in his one season at Anfield.

Jose Enrique signed for the Toon in 2007 and spent four years at St James’ Park.

Sticking with the Toon after our disastrous relegation of 2009, he became an important part of the team that gained promotion at the first attempt and netted a crucial goal against Nottingham Forest in a 2-0 win. Citing a lack of ambition, he left for the reds in 2011, parting on bad terms due to some ill-advised comments on social media about the club never competing for the top six.

The Toon Army relentlessly reminded him of this when he returned to play against us the next April as we were near the top of the league and pushing for a top four finish. Bizarrely, he’d end the day playing in goal when Liverpool had their ‘keeper sent off near the end of a tremendous 2-0 win for United.

Eddie Howe following a 0-0 draw away at Aston Villa:

Arne Slot after a 4-2 home win over Bournemouth:

“I thought winning the league here would always be more special than winning a home game against Bournemouth, but the last six or seven minutes… wow! Wow, wow, wow! How impressive that was. Great game! I think it was a great game to watch. In the end we won it, so that helps for my emotions, but I think this is what you would like to see. I have said many times last season about our Paris Saint-Germain game and we can’t compare a last-16 game with a first game of football in the Premier League in terms of importance, but it was similar. Both teams, all in, high intensity, never gave up”.

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.

The atmosphere for this one will be absolutely intense and I fancy the Toon Army to be the twelfth man for the black and whites.

My prediction is that Newcastle will start on the front foot and swarm all over their opponents, taking a deserved two goal lead into the half-time break. We may need to weather the storm a bit in the second half but we’ll hang on for a famous victory. Newcastle 2-1 Liverpool.