With their first win of the season under their belts, Liverpool head to St. James Park to take on Newcastle. They’ll arrive with both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alexis Mac Allister available. Alexander-Arnold has passed a fitness check after getting a knock against Bournemouth. The red card that Mac Allister received last weekend was rescinded.
Newcastle started the season off strong by putting five past Aston Villa in the opener. However, it was Manchester City next, and they lost at the Etihad by a flattering 1-0 scoreline that probably should have been worse.
It’s hard to over-exaggerate the glow up the Magpies got last season under Eddie Howe. They beat Liverpool, Tottenham, and Chelsea to the last Champions League spot and hope to continue their impressive form.
With their win against Bournemouth, Liverpool are at 13 games unbeaten since their heavy loss against Manchester City last season at the beginning of April.
Could this be the game to start new DM Wataru Endo in midfield? He made his Liverpool debut last week when he came on for Cody Gakpo in the 62nd minute in order to preserve their two goal lead to see out the game.
Despite their come from behind victory, the first 25 minutes of the match was difficult viewing for Liverpool fans. Most of it can be put down to the players getting used to the new dynamic, but hopefully the second half Liverpool will be the ones who take the pitch against the Magpies.
Dominik Szoboszlai in particular had a massive games last Saturday. He earned the Reds the penalty that Mohamed Salah converted on the rebound after his first attempt was saved. Overall everyone came out impressed with how well he ran the midfield throughout the whole game, even when the Reds were down to 10 men.
It may be Gakpo in the midfield, but Newcastle is a good match to get him his first start. Konaté has a knock, but Klopp indicated he’d be ready to play on Sunday. However, if he isn’t, then both Joe Gomez and Joël Matip are fit and prepared to fill in beside Virgil van Dijk.
Curtis Jones and Thiago Alcantara will both be out for the Reds.
For the Magpies, Eddie Howe should have Joelinton back after he went off injured during the second half of the match against Manchester City. Unavailable are Emil Krafth and Joe Willock, while Javier Manquillo returned to training.
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