Eddie Howe’s Newcastle Liverpool challenge & Carabao Cup final claim
EDDIE Howe says his Newcastle side need to be “perfect” if they’re to stand any chance of upsetting runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool tonight.
The Reds have won nine and lost only one of their 12 Anfield games this season and host Newcastle on the back of a perfect weekend.
Liverpool won at Manchester City on Sunday, less than 24 hours after their closest title rivals Arsenal had slipped up at home to West Ham United, allowing Arne Slot’s side to extend their lead at the top to 11 points.
Newcastle climbed to fifth with their success against Nottingham Forest on Sunday but can’t afford a repeat of their last away trip, when they were significantly below par and thumped at City.
Howe said: “Liverpool’s record at Anfield this season has been very strong. We have to be mentally very strong in this game.
“It’ll have to be close to a perfect game from our perspective.
We need every aspect of our game to be functioning as it was in the first half against Nottingham Forest, albeit we conceded the first goal, that apart I thought we responded really, really well.
“We were free flowing, we were dynamic, flexible in terms of our tactical play. We showed no fear and we attacked the game and scored four great goals.”
