Newcastle United vs. Liverpool: Premier League match preview with team news, predicted lineups, where to watch, score prediction, and more

Liverpool are the visitors to St. James' Park this Sunday afternoon for Newcastle's third match of the 2023/24 Premier League season.

The game kicks off at 4.30 p.m. BST and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland. After suffering two defeats to Jürgen Klopp's side last term, Eddie Howe and his squad will be out for revenge.

With a superb win against Aston Villa at home and a narrow loss to Manchester City away, the Magpies are aiming to secure six out of the first nine points available in what has been a very tough start to the campaign.

Here's your complete guide to the match, including the latest team updates, predicted lineups, ticket information, quotes from the managers, viewing options, and more.

What's the latest team news?

Lewis Hall is available for selection following his season-long loan move from Chelsea, which was completed on Tuesday.

Jacob Murphy is back in contention for a place on the bench following the birth of his child last weekend, which made him a late absentee from the squad at the Etihad Stadium.

Joelinton has shaken off the knock that forced him off the pitch during the loss at Manchester City, too, and it would be a surprise if he didn't start again here.

Javier Manquillo has returned to full training today following a trip to Spain to see a specialist about his groin injury but is unlikely to make the matchday squad of 20.

Joe Willock and Emil Krafth remain unavailable, with Howe this morning saying he still expects Willock to resume full training during the September international break.

Newcastle United Squad

Goalkeepers: Nick Pope, Martin Dúbravka, Loris Karius, Mark Gillespie

Defenders: Kieran Trippier, Tino Livramento, Javier Manquillo, Fabian Schär, Jamaal Lascelles, Sven Botman, Paul Dummett, Dan Burn, Matt Targett, Lewis Hall

Midfielders: Sandro Tonali, Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimarães, Lewis Miley, Joelinton, Elliot Anderson, Matt Ritchie

Forwards: Miguel Almirón, Jacob Murphy, Alexander Isak, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes

Klopp will definitely be without Thiago Alcantara (groin) and Curtis Jones (ankle), while Ibrahima Konaté (hamstring) is a doubt.

Alexander-Arnold (knock) has been in full training since Monday and is fine to play after being forced off injured in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth at Anfield last weekend.

Konaté is currently rated 50/50, with Joël Matip ready to deputise if required. Alexis Mac Allister is available after his red card in that Bournemouth game was overturned.

Liverpool Squad

Goalkeepers: Alisson, Caoimhín Kelleher, Adrián, Marcelo Pitaluga

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konaté, Joël Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Jarell Quansah, Andrew Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas

Midfielders: Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endō, Dominik Szoboszlai, Harvey Elliot, Stefan Bajcetic

Forwards: Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Luis Díaz, Darwin Núñez, Cody Gakpo, Ben Doak

How will the teams line up?

With Joelinton having trained over the past few days, it would be a surprise to see anything other than an unchanged XI from Howe here for the third successive game.

Anthony Gordon is under threat from Harvey Barnes on the left wing, but the Manchester City game was so difficult for the attacking players that the Scouser might be given another chance to impress from the start.

Murphy's return should see him replace Matt Ritchie on the Newcastle bench, but Matt Targett may keep his position there ahead of Lewis Hall, who hasn't had much time to integrate into the squad as yet.

Newcastle United (4-3-3)

Starting XI: Pope; Trippier (c), Schär, Botman, Burn; Tonali, Guimarães, Joelinton; Almirón, Isak, Gordon

Substitutes: Dúbravka; Livramento, Lascelles, Targett; Anderson, Longstaff; Murphy, Wilson, Barnes

If Konaté passes his late fitness test then there should only be one change from Klopp, with Endō coming in for Gakpo to shore up the midfield. If Konaté isn't able to start, then it's between Matip and Gomez to replace him, with the Cameroonian the more likely choice.

Liverpool (4-3-3)

Starting XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konaté (Matip), van Dijk (c), Robertson; Mac Allister, Endō, Szoboszlai; Salah, Jota, Díaz

Substitutes: Kelleher; Gomez, Matip (Quansah), Tsimikas; Bajcetic, Elliott; Núñez, Gakpo, Doak

Who will referee the game and who is the VAR?

John Brooks is the man in the middle for this one. He's Leicester-based and oversaw our 5-1 home win over Brentford and 0-3 loss at Aston Villa in the league last season. He was also in charge four the 1-0 home victory over Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup.

Stuart Atwell is the VAR, while Lee Betts and Akil Howson are the assistant referees. Craig Pawson is on fourth official duty and could have his hands full in between the new dugouts at St. James'.

What kits will the sides be wearing?

It'll be back to black and white shirts, black shorts, and white socks for the Magpies here after the lads played in black socks for some reason at the Etihad. Liverpool will be in all red (and hopefully seeing red by the final whistle).

What have the managers said about the game?

Howe spoke to the media at Darsley Park this morning, with his key comments about Liverpool being as follows:

"These games are iconic, really, throughout the Premier League, the Newcastle-Liverpool battles.

Last year we were disappointed in the two defeats for us. The one at Anfield was a difficult night—the last minute of that game has been replayed in my mind many times. The game at home was also painful in a different way, probably more painful for Nick (Pope) in what happened for him, missing the (Carabao) cup final. It was a day where we didn't start very well but I thought we played very well with ten men against 11.

There's slight tweaks (in Liverpool's set-up) I'd say. I don't think the main principles have changed. They're still very, very good at what the have been historically good at for the last four or five years. (They're a) very difficult team to play against, but they are building a new team, you would say, with slightly different characteristics in midfield. They're an elite team with an elite manager, they're very, very good and they're going to come back strong, for sure.

We know this is a really good early test for us, following on from Manchester City and Aston Villa."

Klopp's press conference took place at the same time, with the gurning German commenting:

"It’s an away game at Newcastle. Newcastle are an incredibly strong team, qualified for the Champions League, fully deserved.

Super development under Eddie Howe, I have to say, smart business. I don’t want to miss anybody but probably the two standouts in this window: Tonali and Barnes. Really good business. Super-intense style, massive atmosphere there, so this is a tough one.

They played a really good first game where Aston Villa were really good as well, to be honest. In the end, the result didn’t reflect probably the full game, but in the end how they used their counter-attacks and stuff like this was absolutely exceptional. The speed they have is really good.

Newcastle since last year at least, they don’t concede a lot but score. So that’s a proper game, and we tried since Sunday night to make sure that we are ready for it. That’s it."

Are tickets still available?

The game is a complete sellout, unfortunately, though tickets have been sporadically available to members throughout the week in the "resale" on the NUFC booking site.

It's worth some frenzied refreshing in short bursts if you're still on the lookout, as we've now heard multiple tales of that approach working for others.

Where can the game be watched or listened to?

Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League will be showing the game in the UK and Ireland.

Radio-wise, it's back to BBC Radio 5 Live Sport nationally and the match will be on BBC Radio Newcastle locally, as usual.

LiveSoccerTV has all of the international listings you could ever want. The game is being broadcast pretty much everywhere, as you'd expect.

What's our head-to-head record with Liverpool?

It's not great.

We haven't beaten the Reds home or away since December 2015, losing nine and drawing four times since then.

We haven't even managed a goal against Klopp's side at St. James' since Dwight Gayle scored after just 24 seconds at an empty Leazes End back in 2020.

Here's our all-time competitive record against Liverpool:

Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against
183	49	44	90	217	322

We've won just 27% of all meetings, losing a massive 49% and drawing the other 24%.

In the league last season, we controversially lost 2-1 at Anfield in August to a 98th-minute Favio Carvalho goal and were subsequently booed off the pitch by the home supporters.

In the return game at St. James', Liverpool ran out 2-0 winners thanks to two early goals. Nick Pope also received a red card that caused him to miss the Carabao Cup Final.

Things can only get better, eh?

What's the official NUFC News score prediction?

We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but this has the same pre-match feel as the Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur home games from last season.

Regardless of Howe's diplomacy, he and his players will surely want to get one over on Klopp and Co. here, and we're backing them to do exactly that.

Let's "blow 'em away with our running" on our way to a 3-1 victory. It should be a classic.

		P	GD	Pts
7	MCI	0	0	0
8	MUN	0	0	0
9	NEW	0	0	0
10	TOT	0	0	0
11	WHU	0	0	0