Newcastle v Liverpool Betting Markets
Newcastle United finished twelfth in the English Premier League last season, managing a modest total of forty-nine points. That meant that the Magpies were only ten points better than relegated West Ham, with the prognosis for the coming campaign looking even more bleak. Eddie Howe has left the club, with Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon signing for Tottenham and Barcelona respectively.
The bookies are prepared to make the Tyneside outfit 3.10 outsiders to claim three points in this top-flight opener. That suggests that Newcastle only have around a 30% chance of landing a victory against a Liverpool side who finished fifth in the overall standings last term. The Reds are likely to be a warm order as Andoni Iraola takes charge for the first time.
The Spaniard was highly effective at Bournemouth, steering the Cherries to a sixth-placed finish last season which had them just behind Liverpool. Mohamed Salah's departure shouldn't be too much of a hindrance and there will be hope that Alexander Isak can have a clean slate, with Florian Wirtz also bidding to be more effective in his second season in England.
Liverpool are trading at odds of 2.05 which suggests they have a slightly less than 50% chance of securing a victory. They did manage to win at St James' Park last season at an early stage of the campaign, although the Merseyside outfit were only able to notch seven wins across their nineteen road trips last season.
Although Newcastle are depleted with a turbulent pre-season behind them, we can always rely on them to be spirited in front of their own fans. They won ten of their nineteen home matches last term, with Will Osula likely to lead the line and they still have plenty of quality in the ranks. However, the departure of Bruno Guimares will mean that there's a big hole in the midfield department.
Goals Under/Over
It never comes as a big surprise to find Over 2.5 Goals trading at a short price when Newcastle square off against Liverpool. In both encounters between the pair last season, we actually saw five goals scored. Therefore, it could be worth pushing the envelope further and actually punting on Over 3.5 Goals or even Over 4.5 Goals.
The previous season saw the two attacking teams play on three occasions including the Carabao Cup final. There was a 3-3 draw at St James' Park and we're likely see plenty of goals in this encounter. After all, Newcastle will always look to try and get on the front foot at home and they face opposition who are generally adept at finding the net.
In the Premier League last season, Liverpool actually conceded more goals (33) away from home than they managed to score (29). Andoni Iraola is very much concerned with bucking that trend and getting his team enjoying bigger goal tallies. Meanwhile, there were a grand total of sixty-six goals scored across nineteen Newcastle encounters at home.
BTTS
The bookies anticipate that BTTS Yes is going to happen. Odds of 1.44 insinuate that there's a 70% chance that both sides will find the net. The evidence is quite compelling. In six of the previous seven match-ups between Newcastle and Liverpool, both sides have found the net. Last season's games saw Liverpool claim a fortunate 3-2 August win at St James' Park before securing a season double when fending off the Magpies 4-1 a few months later.
Newcastle won the 2025 Carabao Cup final 2-1 against the Merseyside team the previous season, with the 2-0 Liverpool win at Anfield that season the real outlier. It had been preceded by a highly entertaining 3-3 draw on Tyneside where Fabian Schar scored an unlikely equaliser at the death in a match where eleven shots on target were registered.
The Magpies didn't have many home matches where they failed to find the net last term. They averaged two goals per game at St James' Park, with the season ending with 3-1 victories on home soil against Brighton and West Ham. In fact, there were ten consecutive home clashes where they were able to score.
Liverpool played out a 4-2 defeat against Leeds in a pre-season match and that outlines that Iraola's chief focus will be on playing attacking football, something that was done with Bournemouth previously. We quite like the idea of combining a Liverpool win with BTTS Yes.
First Goalscorer
Alexander Isak completed a big money move from St James' Park to Anfield last summer although a protracted transfer was followed by the player struggling with fitness and injuries for much of the campaign. The Swede might be able to hit the ground running this term, with the forward among the favourites to score the opening goal of the game.
Florian Wirtz was another summer 2025 arrival, with the German having shown glimpses of why the Merseyside club splashed the cash to secure his signature. Now he will be given a run of games and perhaps he can be the first player on the scoresheet here. Cody Gakpo is likely to operate from a wide left position, with the Dutchman aiming to hit a double figure tally in the top flight this term.
Will Osula made a big impact for Newcastle during the second half of the season and perhaps he can be the man on the spot for the Magpies in this opener. Nick Woltemade will also hope to make a scoring start to his account, with Dan Burn among the central defenders who can cause problems for the opposition from set pieces.