Newcastle away, 27th April KO 1730 BST

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LOCAL NEWS
Bahrain – will be holding their 3rd match gathering at Tracks with free snacks and 20% off
Muscat – will be getting an LFC shirt with “Muscat Reds” lettering and signed by Jan Molby, Alan Kennedy, David Fairclough, and Jimmy Case for display in the Anfield lounge.
Doha – keep a look out for 2 ex Reds currently in Doha, Harry Kewell and Djibril Cisse!

MATCH PREVIEW
Liverpool travel to St James’s Park to face relegation threatened Newcastle United. The Reds lost the corresponding fixture 0-2 last season thanks to a brace from Papiss Cisse, in a game that also saw Pepe Reina sent off. Despite that defeat, three of our six wins at St James’ in the Premier League have came in our last six visits there. The two sides shared the spoils at Anfield earlier this season with Luis Suarez equalising Yohan Cabaye’s opener for the Toon, who also had Fabricio Coloccini sent off.

Newcastle – who finished 5th last season with 65 points, 13 points more than us – sit just six points above the relegation zone in 16th place, 14 points behind the Reds who occupy 7th. The Geordies have lost 15 times in the
league since the two sides met back in November but their tally of nine home wins has only been bettered by the current top four and Everton, while their seven defeats at St James’ Park is the joint third most in the division with only Aston Villa and Wigan – with eight home defeats apiece – having lost more home games in the league this season.

Liverpool’s record of five away wins is the sixth highest in the league and our total of five away defeats is the joint third lowest in the division. However our tally of seven draws away from home is the joint second highest
in the Premier League with only Everton – with eight draws away from home – having drawn more.

The match-day official for this fixture is A. Marriner

TEAM NEWS
Fabio Borini (shoulder), Raheem Sterling (thigh), Martin Kelly (knee) and Joe Allen (shoulder) are all ruled out for Liverpool while Luis Suarez is banned for ten matches with immediate effect.

Goalkeepers: Reina
Defenders: Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Enrique
Midfielders: Lucas, Gerrard (c), Coutinho, Henderson, Downing,
Strikers: Sturridge,

Without Suarez, it will be interesting to see what Rodgers has as a plan B. LFC have been totally reliant on LS7 this season, so it would be nice to know if the other players can step up their games to contribute more to make up for the absence of our star player.

STATISTICS
Liverpool’s overall league record against Newcastle Utd:

Total – P: 153 W: 73 D: 38 L: 42 F: 267 A: 191 GD: +76
Home – P: 77 W: 51 D: 15 L: 11 F: 176 A: 78 GD: +98
Away – P: 76 W: 22 D: 23 L: 31 F: 91 A: 113 GD: -22

Liverpool’s biggest victories and defeats v Newcastle Utd at St James’ Park:

Biggest away win (overall): 5-1 (28/12/2008)
Biggest away defeat (overall): 2-9 (1/1/1934)

TRIVIA

Ian Callaghan has made the most appearances for Liverpool in this fixture with 27. From our current squad, Jamie Carragher (23 appearances) Steven Gerrard (23 appearances and seven goals) are in joint 5th. Michael Owen’s tally of 14 goals from 11 appearances make him our top scorer in this fixture. Ian Rush with nine goals from 14 appearances and Roger Hunt with eight goals from ten appearances are next on the list.

Liverpool have signed 11 players directly from Newcastle United including our most expensive player in the club’s history in Andy Carroll (£35m) and five players who all made a big impact at Anfield during their time at the
club: Albert Stubbins, signed for £12,500 in 1946), Terry McDermott (signed for £175,000 in 1974), Alan Kennedy (signed for £330,000 in 1978), Peter Beardsley (signed for £1.9m in 1987) and Dietmar Hamann (signed for £8m in
1999). Jose Enrique was another signing from the Geordies.

Eight players have left Anfield for St James’ Park including legendary Reds Terry McDermott (sold in September 1982 for £100,000) and John Barnes (released in August 1997).

ODDS
Home win 40%
draw 20%
Away win 40%