There were meant to be two matches in the Premier League on Wednesday night to round off the top flight action for 2020 but after the Covid-19 issues that Fulham are having ended the chances of the first one, we are left with just the one game as Newcastle United host the champions Liverpool.
I think it is fair to say that these two teams are going in opposite directions with Liverpool on top of the table and having the chance to move five points clear at the summit again while Newcastle sit in 15th and are seeing the bottom three close in game by game.
Where to watch
The match will be shown in full on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service with the build up to the clash beginning at 7.30pm with the match itself kicking off at 8pm.
Newcastle United
On the face of it five wins and three draws from 14 matches doesn’t look like a bad return for Newcastle this term but despite that there is a lot of doom and gloom around St James’ Park. A couple of things have attributed to that. The first is their exit in the Carabao Cup to Championship side Brentford last week when fans saw rare hopes of lifting a trophy that they crave dashed. The other is the style of football which is too defensive and rarely inspires anyone.
The latter point tends to come into focus even more when they come up against the big sides in the league, but it doesn’t necessarily have the desired effect, unless of course the intention is merely to keep the score down. I don’t think any Newcastle fan would expect their side to go toe to toe with teams like Liverpool like in the Keegan days, but some plan to keep the ball and get up the pitch would be welcomed I’m sure.
Liverpool
Although they sit on top of the table and are guaranteed to be there at the start of 2021, there is no denying that the Liverpool side we have seen this season have not hit the heights that they did last term. There are a couple of very obvious reasons which need to be factored in of course. The first of those is that they have had chronic injury issues all campaign and the second is that an awful lot of fixtures have been crammed into a relatively short space of time.
It has been on the road where they have had their struggles. They famously lost 7-2 at Aston Villa and have failed to win at Fulham, Brighton and Everton this term as well as Manchester City. You get the impression that those failures have come up in training because in their last away match they thrashed Crystal Palace 7-0 and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them look to lay a marker down here too, maybe not by the same score but a convincing away win to go into 2021 with.
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Team News
Newcastle United are still without Alain Saint-Maximin and Jamaal Lascelles who it is believed caught the full bout of the Covid-19 virus and are yet to recover. Callum Wilson could return but Ryan Fraser may have to start on the bench.
Liverpool picked up another injury on Sunday when Joel Matip went off which could see Rhys Williams partnering Fabinho at the heart of the Liverpool defence. Thiago is unlikely to be involved as he returns from injury.
Betting
I think the results Newcastle have against the big six this season are quite telling when we assess this match from a betting point of view. They have faced four of them with a 1-1 draw at Tottenham, a 4-1 home loss to Manchester United and 2-0 defeats on this ground to Chelsea and Manchester City. One point from four and in that game they were battered for 90 minutes before a late penalty got them something from the match, against a side not known for putting teams to the sword.
I see no reason why that trend won’t continue here, especially when you think some of those results came with Lascelles in the side. Liverpool have plenty of issues to address this term, but they are largely in defence which is unlikely to be under the sort of stress it might normally be on the road here given the conservative approach that Newcastle adopt. Liverpool showed at Crystal Palace that they can beat a similarly set up side and put them to the sword, one who carry more of a threat than Newcastle do. It has to be acknowledged that Liverpool have only won two matches away this season but both were by two or more. This should be the third and by the same margin.
Tips
Back Liverpool (-1.5AH) to beat Newcastle United for a 3/10 stake at 1.88 with Bet365
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