Both sides are heading into the contest on the back of stunning form, having won each of their last four games across all competitions.
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Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe insists his side will try to be “as aggressive as” they can, against Liverpool in the Premier League fixture at St James’ Park on Saturday. Both sides are heading into the contest on the back of stunning form, having won each of their last four games across all competitions. Howe’s side thrashed Norwich City 3-0 last weekend while the Reds secured a 2-0 win over Villarreal in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final fixture on Wednesday. Jurgen Klopp’s side are second in the standings, just one point behind leaders Manchester City. while Newcastle, who were battling relegation earlier in the season, have now risen to ninth in the table and are now closer to the European spot than the drop zone.
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Eddie Howe on the final four games:
“We had a good result last week and a good performance but we’ve trained well off the back of that. We know that with the games we have coming up there can be no dropping of our standards because this league can be ruthless at times.” pic.twitter.com/ulPArmXEIj
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) April 29, 2022
After the takeover of the club by Saudi-led ownership, the Magpies have been on the rise, thanks to some clever signings in the January transfer window and Howe’s brilliance. The new owners are willing to splash lots of money in the future and Newcastle aim to become one of the best in the world. Asked if this fixture would one day be a title showdown, the head coach said: “Hopefully it is in the future. It’s very difficult to take yourself away from where we are right now. But it is somewhere we aspire to be. We need to improve what we deliver for our players. Certain aspects of the club need to evolve. These things can’t be rushed, and you have to do it properly. How long? I don’t know. There will be hurdles, you can’t just flick a switch. But hopefully we will get there. The ambition is there to do it, and that is the most important thing.”
After suffering a 5-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on April 3, Howe’s side has won four successive games, keeping three clean sheets, conceding just one goal and scoring seven in those four matches. Their latest victory at Carrow Road was achieved courtesy of a first half brace from Joelinton and a second-half goal from Bruno Guimaraes. Meanwhile the Magpies are also bidding for a seventh straight home win. Howe’s achievement of lifting the team from 9th to 9th in just 150 days has been simply astonishing to say the least. “A little pause and you go, “Ah, that’s unbelievable,” he said. “We are absolutely delighted to have got some of the results and build the momentum we have. But it’s no more than that one moment. It’s then, “What do we need to do tomorrow to make sure we are better than today.”
Liverpool’s latest two victories came up against sides who sat deep and defended and had a defensive game plan. In the mid-week, Villarreal had less than 25% ball possession and failed to register even a single shot on goal. Similarly, in their last Premier League game, Everton also tried to park the bus in front of goal, but once again Liverpool’s attack was too good to score two goals through Andrew Robertson and Divock Origi. “When you play Liverpool and Manchester City, it’s about getting the balance right between being solid defensively but also giving them a threat and posing a problem the other way,’ he said. I totally understand why those teams have set up as they have. But we will try to be as aggressive as we can and try to give them a problem. We definitely don’t want to be passive or sat deep. Let us hope we are not.”
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