Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has delivered his prediction for Newcastle United’s vital clash with Liverpool on Saturday.
The Magpies are preparing to take on Jurgen Klopp’s title-chasing side at St James’ Park, with Rafael Benitez doubtless keen to deal his old side a blow. Merson, however, believes the visitors will prevail 2-0.
“You hope Liverpool win, you really do, because otherwise you look at it and the fact they lost 3-0 at Barcelona, and if they draw here their season’s fizzled out in four days,” he wrote on the Sky Sports website. “I think they’ll win, the other night they just came up against an extraordinary club. They don’t deserve their season to fizzle out. They should at least take it to the last day.
“Newcastle will make it a long night for them, they’re used to being tight, they don’t have to entertain, their fans know what they’re like, they’ll make it hard and it’ll be a tough one.”
OPINION
This could wind up being a very nervy, horrible encounter on Saturday. Liverpool obviously need to win to stay in the hunt for the Premier League title, particularly after their Champions League hopes took a big hit against Barcelona on Wednesday. So they will be coming out all guns blazing at St James’ Park. However, Newcastle won’t be pushovers by any means. We’ve seen them play the top teams tough all season long and it’s unlikely that will change here. Benitez will have a plan and he’ll set his team up to sit back and stifle the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. Whether that will be successful remains to be seen, but Merson clearly believes the Reds will have enough to see them off in the end. You get the feeling that the Magpies will hang in this one for a while, but ultimately Liverpool will probably overpower them as they continue their push for that elusive league title.
