Full Time
Newcastle and Liverpool shared the points in a 1-1 draw at St James' Park, with Yoane Wissa giving the home side the lead just before half-time. The story of the day, though, was Alexander Isak scoring against his former club with 13 minutes left, on his first appearance back on Tyneside since his big-money move to Liverpool over the summer. He didn't exactly celebrate wildly, for what it's worth. A point each to start the season, though Newcastle fans will have decidedly mixed feelings about how it arrived.
Pre-match Talking Points
Match talking points will appear here before kick-off.
Team Talking Points
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1Newcastle's last game was a 1-1 draw at Fulham. Jacob Murphy scored a 25-yard screamer, and it lasted all of three minutes before Rodrigo Muniz equalised. Muniz hadn't scored in 15 months, which made it extra annoying.
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2They also had a Dan Burn goal ruled out after VAR spotted a foul by Yoane Wissa in the build-up. Manager Matthias Jaissle called it 'soft' and said his side did enough to win. Agree that it was soft and you'll make a friend for life.
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3Jaissle also called the draw 'a step in the right direction after the last performance'. That tells you the last performance wasn't great. Newcastle sit roughly mid-table on 12 points from 10 games, about four points clear of the drop zone and four off the top six.
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4That puts them in a very Premier League kind of limbo: not in trouble, not in contention. A couple of wins and the talk is Europe. A couple of defeats and people start looking nervously over their shoulders.
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5The first game back after the break is a big one. Leaders Arsenal visit St James' Park on Saturday 21 November. A win there would change the mood around the club overnight, and fans know it.
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Top thing to say down the pub
If VAR hadn't chalked off Dan Burn's goal at Fulham, we'd be talking about the top six, not 'a step in the right direction'.
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Avoid saying
"Newcastle are the richest club in the world, they should be winning everything." Fans have heard it a thousand times. Spending rules mean the money hasn't turned into the trophy-a-season machine people imagine, so you'll get a long lecture on profit and sustainability.
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1Liverpool won 3-1 at bottom side Crystal Palace on Sunday and climbed back into the top four. Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak scored. Coming after a sticky run, it was the result Andoni Iraola needed going into the break.
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2Wirtz's goal was his first in the league this season. For a player who cost a small fortune, that's been a running joke among rival fans. Liverpool supporters will insist his all-round play was always more important than goals, and they're partly right.
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3The international break hasn't been kind. Virgil van Dijk played the full 90 at Selhurst Park, then pulled out of the Netherlands squad, reportedly after playing through a minor problem for weeks. Dominik Szoboszlai picked up a knee sprain in the same game and is a doubt for Hungary. Neither is a disaster yet, but both are worth watching.
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4Alisson was named man of the match at Palace with several big saves, and he was unlucky to concede a stoppage-time penalty. That's a reminder that Liverpool's win was less comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
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5The fixtures coming up are huge. Manchester United visit Anfield on 22 November, and over the next few weeks a Merseyside derby against a high-flying Everton and a game against Chelsea follow. A month from now we'll know whether Iraola's Liverpool are genuine contenders or just good at beating teams at the bottom.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Wirtz finally scored in the league, so now everyone can stop asking. The real test is United, the derby and Chelsea in the next few weeks.
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Avoid saying
"Liverpool are nothing without Klopp" — he's been gone since 2024, they've won the league since, and it suggests your football knowledge stopped updating several seasons ago.