Liverpool travel to Newcastle United in the Premier League this weekend and Paul Merson has given his result prediction
Paul Merson has backed Newcastle United to beat Liverpool at St James’ Park this weekend – insisting the Reds’ recent habit of starting slowly will not go unpunished by Eddie Howe’s side.
Liverpool travel to the North East on Sunday afternoon in their third Premier League game of the season and will face the Magpies in what is undoubtedly their toughest test yet so far.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have put four points on the board after a resilient showing in their season-opener against Chelsea saw them take a hard-fought point back to Merseyside. Six days later, meanwhile, goals from Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota saw them turn their fortunes around against Bournemouth to claim a 3-1 victory.
However, Saturday’s win over the Cherries was one Liverpool were made to work mightily hard for after Antoine Semenyo fired the visitors ahead after just three minutes. And despite turning the game on its head with two quickfire goals before half time, Alexis Mac Allister’s dismissal, which was later overturned on appeal, had the potential to extinguish the Reds’ momentum.
Therefore Merson believes if Liverpool are to make a sloppy start to Sunday’s fixture then Newcastle will be better placed than the Bournemouth side to take advantage and perhaps spell no way back for Klopp’s men.
“If Newcastle start this game at a hundred miles an hour, I don’t see Liverpool being able to cope with them,” wrote the former Arsenal and England forward in his Sportskeeda column.
“They need to turn it on like they did against Aston Villa. I watched Liverpool against Bournemouth last week, and Bournemouth were very good in the first 20 minutes of the game.
“I thought Newcastle would be underachievers this season, but they were brilliant in their first game. They had an opportunity to seize the initiative against Man City, but they didn’t win that game. They’ve had a hard start to their season and if they win this game, they’ll have won six out of nine points – it could set them up for a top-four finish. It would send a message to the rest of the Premier League that they’re a big threat.”
He added: “If Newcastle play the way they usually do and start, they can smother Liverpool all over this pitch. If they can make the most of their start, I think they’ll be able to win this game.”
