Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Newcastle vs Liverpool at St James’ Park. The last few days have seen the actual football overshadowed by a string of Covid-19 stories as Premier League positive tests arrive alarmingly regularly while infection rates soar in the UK. This evening’s earlier kick-off between Fulham and Spurs was the second of the midweek fixtures to be called off… but more on that later. First up it’s team news time.
Premier League / Matchday 16
St James' Park / 30.12.2020
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Updated 30/12/2020 at 21:56 GMT
Newcastle on the other hand are going through a sticky patch and could have done without back-to-back games against Man City and Liverpool. Steve Bruce’s side put in a decent if toothless showing in their 2-0 loss at the Etihad on Boxing Day, but will be hoping to offer slightly more in the way of attacking threat this evening when they get the opportunity.
As for tonight’s match, Liverpool will be keen to bounce back from the disappointment of dropped points against West Brom last time out and could temporarily extend their lead at the top of the table to five points over current closest challengers Manchester United.
Jurgen Klopp hasn’t been shy in offering his views on the congested nature of this season so far, and a ‘circuit break’ would surely only increase those issues during the remainder of the campaign. But what options do the Premier League have? Earlier this afternoon Eurosport’s James Walker-Roberts outlined the situation as it is right now and talked through the various solutions on offer, and you can read that article here:
With infection rates increasing at an alarming rate around the country and Premier League players increasingly returning positive tests, there have been calls from some quarters for the season to be paused for a ‘circuit break’ to try and reduce the risk. There has yet to be an official response to those suggestions.
While Liverpool’s upcoming matches aren’t currently under direct threat of cancellation, fans will no longer be able to attend matches at Anfield after a tightening of coronavirus restrictions in the area was announced today by the government.
Thankfully this game is okay to continue, but a string of positive tests at Fulham meant that the game which should have preceded this one was called off. You can read more about that story and what it means here.
Klopp makes two changes to his Liverpool line-up, with Milner and Phillips coming in for Wijnaldum and Matip. Interestingly there’s a spot for Thiago on the bench as he continues his return to full fitness.
Newcastle make just the one change from the XI that began the defeat to Manchester City on Boxing Day, with Callum Wilson starting in place of Miguel Almiron.