Premier League: Newcastle vs Liverpool; Will we see Thiago?

Another game in this festive period and this one will be the last Premier League game of 2020.

A dreadful year it has been but a great year for Liverpudlians.

Finally becoming Premier League Champions for the first time and winning their first league title in 30 years.

Now the task at hand is to defend their crown with all they have.

After beating Crystal Palace 7-0 no one gave West Brom a chance at Anfield other than the Liverpool players on the pitch hence why The Baggies nicked a point with Jurgen Klopp getting Allardyced yet again.

Now Liverpool come up against Newcastle who will have the same approach as West Brom due to the manager in charge.

Steve Bruce prefers a defensive style of play just like Sam Allardyce with some even saying it is anti-football.

It might be but if it produces results then no one is complaining, other than the opposition fans.

Liverpool dismantled those type of sides with ease last season as they marched to the Premier League title but the Liverpool from a few seasons ago seem to be back due to drawing with sides in the relegation battle such as Brighton, Fulham and West Brom.

Newcastle are in big danger of getting dragged into the relegation dog fight with just 18 points on the board with Steve Bruce coming under more and more pressure after each game.

So, it is a huge game for The Toon Army as well as the champions of England.

Klopp’s side will be wanting to build up ahead of steam and open up a significant gap to the side in second place, that side at the moment is rivals Manchester United so it is of even more importance to build a gap.

There was a chance to do just that against West Brom, but it was an awful performance which lacked speed, fluidity and a cutting edge with it being so easy to see what was coming so the team need to respond with a win.

Another defensive injury occurred against West Brom and it was Joel Matip who is proving that he cannot be trusted to play more than two games in a row without getting injured.

Klopp confirmed after the game that it was an abductor problem and it looks set to be a few weeks on the sideline for the tall centre half.

Due to this it looks like youngster Rhys Williams who came on against The Baggies will be getting more appearances to add to his ten he has so far this season, he seems to be preferred over Nat Phillips with it looking like the latter will leave at the end of the season when his contract is up.

With there being no press conference for the game and instead just the post-match conference after West Brom there is no immediate updates on Thiago Alcantara with the expectation being that this game would be the one he would return.

After the West Brom game Klopp said:

“Thiago did parts of training so far, today is Sunday, so on Friday he trained the full session but the session was a reduced session, so he could do that. He has to be part of team training, it’s not about training one day with the team and then you can play football in the Premier League again.

“It looks quite promising in the moment but I cannot say more about it, to be honest. I don’t know. I think the plan was that he trains tomorrow completely normal, but we will see that.”

The Spaniard would certainly help break down a tough Newcastle side and would also probably help put a massive smile on every single Liverpool fans across the land.Especially when he makes a simple five-yard pass.

Written by Elliot Thompson

Premier League: Newcastle vs Liverpool; Will we see Thiago?

READ MORE: The treble winning midfielder that is Thiago Alcantara

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