Newcastle United will welcome Liverpool to the St James' Park ahead of the weekend's crucial Premier League encounter. The two are undoubtedly the in-form sides of the competition at the moment and will kick off the next round of fixtures when they lock horns at lunchtime. For neutrals and most especially Man City fans, the significance of the outcome of this encounter cannot be stressed enough although they will appreciate an upset even more for obvious reason.
In truth, the possibility of this is lingering as Eddie Howe's men have proved in recent weeks that they are capable of snatching massive results. They will line up against the Reds after a run of four games where they managed successive wins. In that, they conceded only once - in the 2-1 win over Leicester City at home, while scoring seven times.
Should things go as expected in the last few matches, a place in the European Conference League could well be the portion of the Black and Whites who have so far accrued 43 points from 34 outings. Nevertheless, the fact that they have failed to manage a single win over Liverpool in over seven years presents an outlook skewed in favour of the Reds.
The Merseysiders will travel to the St James' Park soaring in confidence for their feat in the Champions League earlier this week. The Reds secured a 2-0 win over Villarreal in the first leg of the semi-final encounter, putting one foot over the line in their objective to feature in another final. Winning the quadruple this season still remains a possibility and the former league title holder are expected to leap over the challenges - starting with the tricky one at Newcastle.
Across the last two months, they have successfully gone unbeaten in 11 matches, six of which are Premier League games. With that period, they have scored 14 goals and have only conceded three. With their remarkable run of not losing against Newcastle in over seven years present to draw inspiration from, Liverpool are expected to get a favorable result and pile more pressure on leaders Man City.
Key stats
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Newcastle are without a win in 10 Premier League games against Liverpool (D4 L6), since a 2-0 victory in December 2015.
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Liverpool are unbeaten in their last four Premier League away games against Newcastle (W2 D2).
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Newcastle have won each of their last four Premier League games, keeping three clean sheets in that run. The Magpies haven't won five consecutive Premier League games since November 2014 under Alan Pardew, a run that included a 1-0 home win against Liverpool.
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Liverpool have taken 37 points from their last 39 available in the Premier League (W12 D1 L0), keeping 10 clean sheets in that run. The Reds' only dropped points in these 13 games came in a 2-2 draw at league leaders Manchester City.
Predicted starting XI
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Newcastle United: Dubravka; Krafth, Schar, Burn, Targett; Shelvey, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Almiron, Wood, Saint-Maximin
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Liverpool: Alisson; Gomez, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Henderson, Fabinho, Keita; Salah, Mane, Jota.
Broadcast information
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
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