The tail end of this round of EPL matches will be an absolute cracker! The home fans at St. James' Park will be cheering as usual, while the Liverpool fans will also be cheering loudly, making Newcastle vs. Liverpool an entertaining encounter in the history of the EPL.
Newcastle have started the season with a devil of a schedule, but on the whole, they've done well so far, with a convincing win over Aston Villa, and only a cyborg-like loss to Manchester City on the road. I'm sure their leader Eddie Hervey will be pleased with that. They have another test coming up this weekend, and I'm sure they're ready for it.
On the subject of Eddie Hervey, I think his acquisitions in the transfer market since taking over have been first class, buying Levi Hall this week was a shrewd piece of business, while the likes of Donnelly, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Bannis are all credible newcomers, but none has stolen the show more so than Alexandre Ishaq. He has a lot of potential, he was quiet against City as he was isolated, but I expect Newcastle to try and take the initiative from the first minute and he will shine.
The key to winning this game will be the play of both midfields. We all know how good both teams are in attack and defense, but the midfield is the key battle for me. The absence of Zurlenton due to injury will result in a reshuffle of Newcastle's midfield line, with Sonnen Randolph likely to take his place as a regular, and the more defensive minded player could free up Donnelly and Gonzalo Gumarez, meaning they could push forward and cause problems for a lackluster Liverpool defense. From the last two games against the Reds, we've seen how easy it is for opponents to cut right through Liverpool's midfield, and Newcastle's strikers are surely better at taking advantage of opportunities to punish the Reds than Ponemough.
For Liverpool, although they managed to overturn the suspension of Alex McAlexander, I still don't think he's the best answer for Liverpool in the center of defense. We've seen interest from the Reds in Romeo Olavia and Moses Scarlet, and they're trying to bridge the gap by enlisting Koh Endo, but I don't think Koh Endo is ready for this high-intensity fixture.
When it comes to Liverpool's midfield line, one has to give props to Suboslar! As an unknown quantity, I questioned how he could cope with the Premier League in my pre-match analysis of Chelsea v Liverpool, but this kid is built for it. He's strong, fast, powerful, technically solid, great on the disc and has the vision to score goals. He's been a very good player for me so far and I'm looking forward to him being the best acquisition of the season.
Liverpool haven't really taken off yet, but the front three have been as clean as ever, especially Luis Díaz. He'll be challenging Chavia in this one, and I have a feeling he'll get a sweet deal in this one.
