Today’s front page. Looks like the Tories have stopped squabbling among themselves about Europe at long last. Phew. We can put that one to bed, then. Nice one, Johnny boy! Meanwhile the story on the right is about Pepsi-Cola changing the colour of their cans from predominantly red to blue. May we always live in such uninteresting, mundane, comfortable times!
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Liverpool will wear red with an ostentatious white v-neck. It’s their best kit in a while; Adidas owed them one after all those intrusive stripes over the shoulder and around the waist. What on earth were they thinking? Bad Adidas! Naughty Adidas! Ah well, better late than never.
Adidas have done Newcastle proud, too. Their famous black-and-white stripes are rendered in a between-the-wars style with button collar. Hughie Gallacher would have looked damn fine in this shirt. Anyway, there’s plenty of time for a pre-match pint. Shall we nip to the bar? Mine’s a Carlsberg, or failing that a bottle of Newcastle Brown.
Kevin Keegan has been criticised for upsetting the balance of his team with the introduction of Faustino Asprilla, their £7.5m super-signing from Parma. David Batty has come under some light fire too, having displaced Lee Clark in the midfield since his arrival from Blackburn Rovers. Both players keep their place, and Keegan must hope that Asprilla soon forges an understanding with Les Ferdinand, desperately trying to rediscover his goalscoring form of earlier in the season. The only change from the dismal 2-0 defeat at Arsenal: Warren Barton makes way for Steve Watson.
Liverpool meanwhile are in if-it-ain’t broke mode. Roy Evans names the same 11, plus bench, selected last Sunday for the FA Cup breeze past Aston Villa.
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The teams
Liverpool: David James, Jason McAteer, Mark Wright, John Scales, Neil Ruddock, Rob Jones, Jamie Redknapp, John Barnes, Steve McManaman, Stan Collymore, Robbie Fowler.
Subs: Tony Warner, Steve Harkness, Ian Rush.
Newcastle United: Pavel Srnicek, Steve Watson, Steve Howey, Philippe Albert, John Beresford, Peter Beardsley, David Batty, Robert Lee, David Ginola, Faustino Asprilla, Les Ferdinand.
Subs: Darren Peacock, Keith Gillespie, Lee Clark.
Referee: Mike Reed (Birmingham).
Preamble
Newcastle United must be starting to question whether the 1995-96 Premier League title is their destiny after all. It sure seemed that way when Kevin Keegan’s entertainers sat 12 points clear of Manchester United just eight weeks ago. But now, after picking up just four points from the last 15 on offer, their advantage has been frittered away, and now they’re three points behind Alex Ferguson’s men. They’ve still got two games in hand, but the margin of error is slight now. They have to convert the contents of their back pocket into points on the board.
They could very much do with a result here tonight at Anfield. That’s far from a pipe dream: they beat Liverpool 2-1 at St James’ Park back in November, then won at Anfield in the League Cup a few weeks later, Steve Watson the unlikely goalscoring hero on both occasions. They look to have Liverpool’s number, and will be hoping to make it three out of three tonight, hauling themselves level with the leaders. That’d put them second on goal difference with a game still in hand, their dream still very much alive.
But defeat tonight would be unthinkable. Liverpool responded marvellously to that League Cup defeat, going on a 20-game unbeaten run that ended only two weekends ago at Nottingham Forest. They immediately got back on the horse with a 3-0 evisceration of Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-finals last weekend, and are high on life right now. They’re also still on the fringes of the title race, eight points behind Manchester United in third. A win tonight would keep their faint hopes alive. But they do need all three points, or it’s pretty much all over for them.
Newcastle by contrast simply need to avoid defeat. A win would be lovely, naturally, but a point at Anfield isn’t to be sniffed at, and would at least ensure they’d still be in control of their own destiny. With the Toon desperate to end their 69-year wait for the league title, and Liverpool drinking in the last-chance saloon, this is effectively a winner-takes-all gunfight. It’s Wednesday evening! It’s live on Sky! It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm.