A week after a fantastic 3-1 victory away at West Brom, Newcastle are back at St. James’ Park to play a Liverpool side who have been really struggling for form recently. It is a massive game in the race for 6^th and a win would put us 11 points ahead of Liverpool with 7 games to go. A defeat however and we would be just 5 points ahead. It is a real 6 pointer!

Last time we met Liverpool, a Craig Bellamy double helped Liverpool to a 3-1 victory at Anfield ending a very forgettable December which saw Newcastle take just 4 points from a possible 18. Without doubt our worst month of the season.

Head-to-head

The game against Liverpool on Sunday will be the 152^nd league meeting between the two sides. Liverpool have, in the past been somewhat of a bogey team for Newcastle and the Merseyside club have come out on top on 73 occasions to our 41 with 37 draws as well. It has never been a dull affair with some of the best games in Premier League history. There has never been a 0-0 draw in the Premier League in this fixture, the last time this happened was in 1974 in the old Division 1.

Our home record against Liverpool in the Premier League is encouraging despite the Liverpool’s dominance in the head-to-head’s. At St James’ Park our record stands at: P17 W7 D4 L6.

Our recent games against Liverpool have seen goals but unfortunately usually for Liverpool. Since the 2007/8 season one team has scored at least 3 goals in each of the 7 games. Newcastle have unfortunately scored 3 goals on one occasion, scoring just 5 goals in the last 7 games. Liverpool have scored at least 3 six times scoring 21 goals in the process.

The corresponding fixture last season was Pardew’s first game in charge at Newcastle. He started with a bang as goals from Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Andy Carroll secured a fantastic 3-1 victory. It was our first win against Liverpool in any competitions since the 2006/7 season.

Recent form

Liverpool come into the game in very poor form indeed. Since their Carling Cup triumph at Wembley they have lost 5 of their last 6 games in the League including defeats against Wigan and QPR. Amazingly they have won just one league game since January; a 3-0 derby win against Everton.

The problem Liverpool have had away from home this season is goals. They have only conceded 19 times in 15 games which is the joint 5^th best in the league but they have scored less than that, having found the net just 17 times.

Newcastle come into the game with back to back wins under our belts, a third win in a row would be the second time we have achieved this in the league this season. Our last ten games have brought us 17 points, just a little better than our season average of 16.6 points every 10 games.

Team News

Newcastle have been rocked by the injury of Fabricio Coloccini who has been sidelined seemingly for the next two games with a hamstring injury. Our influential captain has been at the heart of a much improved Newcastle defence this season, his absence will be noticeable and it is very important that Perch steps up to the plate and ensures that we do not miss Coloccini too much.

However on a positive note, Cheick Tiote is expected to be fit after missing the last few games and Ryan Taylor is also back in training and in contention. Pappis Cisse did go off late on at the Hawthornes but it was only cramp and he is fit. All of this means that our injury list compromises of S. Taylor, Marveaux, Lovenkrands, Best, Sammy Ameobi and Coloccini.

Liverpool do also have some injury concerns with Kelly, Robinson, Johnson, Agger and Newcastle old boy Craig Bellamy all battling to be fit. Lucas is definitely out as he continues to recover from a ACL knee injury as is Charlie Adam following the knee injury he picked up against QPR last week.

Tactics

The 4-3-3 formation worked a treat against West Brom and whilst it’s a risk against a team like Liverpool, I can’t see Pardew changing tactics after last weekend. The only changes I can see are Tiote in for Guthrie and Santon in at left back for Coloccini with Perch covering at CB. It is an attacking formation and it’s possible that Pardew may still have the Tottenham game in his mind and opt for a 4-4-2.

Liverpool have tended to change formation during a game, they have in the past started with 4-5-1. Suarez starting up top on his own and Carroll on the bench and then changed to a 4-4-2 to accommodate the struggling English striker. I don’t want to jinx anything but despite Carroll’s poor form since moving to Liverpool it would be typical that he starts and scores against us on Sunday. With that in mind I think Liverpool might be tempted to go with a 4-4-2 formation. Especially with Perch and Williamson at the back, Carroll’s aerial threat may be difficult to deal with. However, I would also not be surprised if they play 4-5-1 either.

Key Players

Newcastle – Hatem Ben Arfa was fantastic last weekend and was involved in all 3 of our goals. He was constantly a threat and made some Messi esq runs through the heart of West Brom. He can change the game in a flash and can score a goal from nothing. If he can be as dangerous as against West Brom we have a great chance of winning.

Liverpool – Luis Suarez is unpopular in the footballing world but there is no doubting his talent. He hasn’t scored that many goals, 6 so far in the Premier League this season but has been a key figure for Liverpool this season and like Ben Arfa he can make something happen.

Referee

Martin Atkinson takes charge of his 34^th game of the season and has produced 118 yellow cards and 9 reds in the process. An average of 3.5 yellows and 0.27 reds per game.

He took charge of our disastrous 4-2 defeat at Norwich with Dan Gosling being sent off as well as the 3-1 win over Blackburn with Ba scoring a hat-trick. Liverpool are unbeaten with Atkinson in charge, beating Arsenal and Everton and drawing with Man City.

Possible Line-ups

Newcastle (4-3-3) : Krul; Santon, Williamson, Perch, Simpson; Gutierrez, Tiote, Cabaye; Ben Arfa, Cisse, Ba

Liverpool (4-4-2): Reina; Enrique, Carragher, Skrtl, Kelly; Kuyt, Spearing, Gerrard, Downing; Suarez, Carroll