By Gary Fulcher, Daniel Rhodes and Mihail Vladimirov.

Liverpool travel to St James’s Park to face relegation threatened Newcastle United on Saturday evening, with a 5.30pm kick off UK time.

The Reds lost the corresponding fixture 0-2 last season thanks to a brace from Papiss Cisse, in a game that also saw Pepe Reina sent off. Despite that defeat, three of our six wins at St James’ in the Premier League have came in our last six visits there.

The two sides shared the spoils at Anfield earlier this season with Luis Suarez equalising Yohan Cabaye’s opener for the Toon, who also had Fabricio Coloccini sent off.

Premier League record since the two clubs met back in November:

• Liverpool – P: 24 W: 11 D: 7 L: 6 F: 48 A: 27 GD: +21 Pts: 40
• Newcastle – P: 24 W: 7 D: 2 L: 15 F: 31 A: 46 GD: -15 Pts: 23

Newcastle – who finished 5th last season with 65 points, 13 points more than us – sit just six points above the relegation zone in 16th place, 14 points behind the Reds who occupy 7th. The Geordies have lost 15 times in the league since the two sides met back in November but their tally of nine home wins has only been bettered by the current top four and Everton, while their seven defeats at St James’ Park is the joint third most in the division with only Aston Villa and Wigan – with eight home defeats apiece – having lost more home games in the league this season.

Liverpool’s record of five away wins is the sixth highest in the league and our total of five away defeats is the joint third lowest in the division. However our tally of seven draws away from home is the joint second highest in the Premier League with only Everton – with eight draws away from home – having drawn more.

The match-day officials for this fixture are:

Referee: A Marriner Assistants: S Child, S Long; Fourth official: L Mason

TEAM NEWS

Fabio Borini (shoulder), Raheem Sterling (thigh), Martin Kelly (knee) and Joe Allen (shoulder) are all ruled out for Liverpool while Luis Suarez is banned for ten matches with immediate effect.

Newcastle are missing Sylvain Marveaux (groin), Tim Krul (shoulder), Davide Santon (hamstring), Fabricio Coloccini (back), Haris Vuckic (knee) and Ryan Taylor (knee) through injury, while they also have doubts over Papiss Cisse (ribs) and Cheick Tiote (hamstring).

Liverpool:

Goalkeepers: Reina, Jones, Gulacsi
Defenders: Johnson, Wisdom, Flanagan, Skrtel, Agger, Coates, Carragher, Enrique
Midfielders: Lucas, Gerrard (c), Coutinho, Henderson, Downing, Shelvey, Suso, Assaidi
Strikers: Sturridge, Yesil

Newcastle Utd:

Goalkeepers: Elliot, Harper
Defenders: Simpson, Williamson, Yanga-Mbiwa, Perch, Haidara, Debuchy, Taylor, Good, Tavernier
Midfielders: Cabaye (c), Sissoko, Anita, Ben Arfa, Gosling, Amalfitano, Gutierrez, Bigirimana, Tiote, Obertan, Abeid
Strikers: Cisse, Gouffran, Shola Ameobi, Campbell

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