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27 min: Incidentally, Dubravka might be Newcastle’s go-to stand-in today, but he won’t be able to deputise for Pope next week at Wembley, having turned out in the League Cup for Manchester United while on loan earlier in the season. Loris Karius to star in his first major showpiece since the 2018 Champions League final?
25 min: Dubravka comes on for the sacrificed Anderson, and immediately makes a big stop, as Alexander-Arnold’s free kick is met by Gakpo, who fires a header straight at the stand-in keeper.
23 min: Pope suffered a proper rush of blood there. The referee had no option. Off he goes – and what a costly mistake it is, because that means he’ll miss the League Cup final against Manchester United next weekend!
RED CARD! Pope (Newcastle United)
22 min: Alisson claims and instantly launches long. Salah scampers after the long pass from the halfway line! Pope races from his area and stoops to head out of Salah’s path … only to fall over, then stick an instinctive arm out to smother. The referee flashes red. He’s off!
21 min: Anderson cuts in from the left flank and is flipped into the air by Fabinho. It’s another poor challenge by the out-of-sorts Liverpool midfielder, and into the book he goes. Trippier takes the resulting free kick and …
19 min: There’s another check for VAR, this time for offside. But Gakpo was a few inches on. What a pass that was from Salah. What a spin by Bajcetic to start the whole thing off.
GOAL! Newcastle United 0-2 Liverpool (Gakpo 17)
Bajcetic spins gracefully away from Longstaff in midfield and sets Liverpool away on the attack. Fabinho rolls to Salah, 30 yards out, just to the right of centre. Salah chips a pass down a big gap in the middle of the Newcastle defence. Gakpo takes a touch and slots into the bottom right. Another goal that seemed to arrive out of nowhere, in an instant.
15 min: Alexander-Arnold looks in the mood, and fires a low diagonal ball into the Newcastle box from the right. Trippier is forced to poke out for a corner with Gakpo lurking. The set piece comes to nothing. Meanwhile here indeed is our old pal Jeff Sax of the Darwin Nunez Appreciation Society, who would like to correct my copy. “That was not ‘simple’ for Nunez. First in the last 12 games. A miracle!” He’s not going to let it like, readers, is he.
13 min: That’s taken a bit of air out of the stadium. Newcastle had been the better team in the early exchanges, and that kind of came out of nowhere. “Jeff Sax in three, two, one…” chants Joe Pearson.
11 min: There’s a quick VAR check. Did the ball roll down, or brush, Nunez’s arm as he chested down? Nope. He took it down gracefully. That was one heck of a finish. He drove that into the bottom left at 101 mph!
GOAL! Newcastle United 0-1 Liverpool (Nunez 10)
Alexander-Arnold picks up possession to the right of the centre circle. He rakes a pass down the middle, where Nunez chests down before slamming past Pope and nearly ripping the net from its moorings. Simple as that. What a finish!
9 min: Liverpool take a little of the early sting out of the game with some passing around the back, and then …
7 min: Nunez probes down the left. He cuts back in the direction of Salah but the ball doesn’t get through and Anderson intercepts. Both teams look in the mood to attack; it may well be the best form of defence for the visitors, who have lost their last three Premier League matches on the road.
5 min: Newcastle have started strongly and Saint-Maximin bursts his way past Alexander-Arnold down the left. He shoots from a tight angle. Van Dijk heads the ball back to him. Saint-Maximin shanks a snapshot out for a goal kick. Liverpool do not look secure at the back.
4 min: Saint-Maximin barrels down the left and cuts infield. He finds Almiron in an absurd amount of space just to the right of the D. Almiron is one on one with Alisson. He tries to force the ball past Alisson but the keeper sticks out a strong arm to parry and claim.
3 min: Trippier rolls a clever pass down the inside-right channel and nearly releases Isak. Van Dijk snoozing a bit. He’s fortunate that Alisson has read the danger and races off his line to smother.
1 min: Saint-Maximin and Isak combine down the left. The latter crosses. Robertson extends a leg to clear. The ball bounds down the Liverpool left and Nunez hares after it. He’d be free, as well, had Pope not raced miles out of his box to blooter clear. A fast start that promises much.
Everyone takes the knee – there’s no room for racism – and then Liverpool get the ball rolling. “When Atsu was with Newcastle and he came on as a sub, I recall reacting to the announcement of his name with, ‘Bless you!’,” writes Peter Oh. “Now, for different reasons, I say ‘Godspeed and bless you Christian’, and the same to his family and friends, in their time of grief.”
A warm ovation and moment of solemn reflection in memory of poor Christian Atsu. The away fans sing You’ll Never Walk Alone. A small crumb of comfort that his very last act on a football field was beautiful.
This was Christian Atsu's final game in his professional football career: 90th minute free-kick to win the game for Hatayspor. Less than 24 hours later, the earthquake happened…
Such devastating news. RIP Atsu. 😢❤️ pic.twitter.com/3mn0eey0XR
The teams are out! Newcastle in their famous black and white stripes, Liverpool in their storied red. A sensational – and indeed emotional – atmosphere at St James’ Park. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
A reminder of what happened when these teams met at Anfield early in the season. It remains Newcastle’s last league defeat, indeed their only one of the campaign so far.
Jurgen Klopp speaks to Sky. “They say we are in a fight for a potential Champions League place but I’m just not there yet that I can announce it, we have to show consistency … we cannot just win one game and everything is good again … Newcastle is in that spot and if we can decrease the distance that is always helpful and that is what we will try today.”
In addition to Atsu’s passing, it’s also the 90th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Sir Bobby Robson, and Eddie Howe tells Sky: “It will be an emotional game … the crowd will certainly show that before the game in different ways … for the players it’s a case of concentrating on the performance … they can’t get swept up in that emotion … I hope we can be the best version of ourselves that we can be … we have to use any emotion from the crowd in a positive way.”
This morning’s news of the death of former Newcastle player Christian Atsu has hit hard. Sky Sports have spoken to some of the folk who worked with, knew and loved him.
Rafael Benitez, who managed him at Newcastle: “I am really sad … they said he was fine but it was not true … he was a nice, nice, special person … a good professional, a very good professional … but I don’t talk about if he’s a good player or not, he was a nice lad, a good player, but especially a really nice person, a special person … you can see the pictures always with a smile … it’s really sad for him and everyone involved because it is really tragic news … I was in contact with him last month, we were sharing messages … it is very bad for me to express in English but I was trying to contact him … also I don’t want to forget the rest of the people, it is a really difficult time … but we have to remember Christian.”
Eddie Howe, who took him on loan at Bournemouth: “It’s a real tragedy … I woke up to the news and was truly devastated … a lot of players in our dressing room worked with him for a couple of years … we’ll play tribute to him with a minute’s silence and our thoughts are with him … we give him our thoughts and prayers to his family.”
Allan Saint-Maximin, who played with him at Newcastle: “It’s a very sad day for Newcastle and most of the players because all of the players know him well … he was a great guy … I would have a conversation with him and a very nice time with him … to see this is very painful … it is difficult to talk about but I will never forget him and will fight for him … I’m not going to lie, I will tell you the truth, I never seen a guy like that before, when I just arrived in Newcastle, even if we played the same position, he was always giving me some advice, always a very very nice guy … he was always talking and smiling even when he didn’t play … he was always a great person … it’s a difficult day for me but will try to do the best game that is possible.”
Newcastle make one change to the team sent out for the 1-1 draw at Bournemouth this time last week. Elliott Anderson replaces the injured Joe Willock in midfield. Callum Wilson is back after a hamstring injury, starting on the bench.
Liverpool also make just the one change after the 2-0 win over Everton on Monday night. Virgil van Dijk returns from his hamstring injury and takes the place of Joel Matip at the back.
The teams
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Joelinton, Anderson, Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Isak.
Subs: Dubravka, Dummett, Lascelles, Gorson, Wilson, Ritchie, Lewis, Manquillo, Murphy.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Bajcetic, Henderson, Nunez, Salah, Gakpo.
Subs: Kelleher, Milner, Keita, Firmino, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Matip, Phillips.
Preamble
This is a difficult one to call. Newcastle United are making a serious bid for a place in next season’s Champions League; Liverpool have been broadly awful this season. Newcastle haven’t been beaten in the Premier League since August; Liverpool have already been comprehensively defeated three times in the league since the turn of the calendar year. Newcastle are fourth; Liverpool are nine points adrift of them in ninth.
Ah but. Newcastle have been struggling to find the net recently, with just three goals in their last six Premier League games; Liverpool rediscovered their attacking verve against Everton last Monday. Newcastle haven’t beaten Liverpool in 12 Premier League games since 2015; Jurgen Klopp’s side are unbeaten in five league games at St James’ Park. Newcastle are without their suspended talisman Bruno Guimaraes; Liverpool were the last side to defeat them in the Premier League.
So you can make a case for both teams. That’s why we love football, huh. Kick off is at 5.30pm GMT. It’s on!
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