Overview
The summer of 2026 witnessed a major change on the coaching bench for both Newcastle United and Liverpool. Eddie Howe and Arne Slot both left their positions, opening a new chapter for the two teams right before the Premier League 2026-2027 season.
Liverpool appoints Andoni Iraola to replace Slot. The Spanish coach is expected to bring new life to The Kop after impressing during his time leading Bournemouth. Meanwhile, Newcastle placed their trust in Matthias Jaissle after Howe decided to leave at the end of July.
Newcastle enters the new season with a squad with many changes. Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes have successively left St James' Park, while Kieran Trippier has also left the club. These deals brought in more than £200 million, but at the same time left a large gap in experience and quality in the squad.
Newcastle has added Amar Dedic from Benfica to the right-back position, but the current force is still not really complete. Jaissle will have to quickly find a new framework if they want to bring the "Magpies" back to the competing group in the Premier League.
Liverpool is also unable to avoid a reorganization. Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate have left, while Curtis Jones is facing the possibility of moving to Inter Milan. Ronald Araujo came on loan and Liverpool also surpassed Newcastle in the race to win Victor Munoz.
Iraola has an advantage in head-to-head record. He has never lost to Newcastle in the Premier League after 6 encounters, with 3 wins and 3 draws. The Spanish captain also has a 18-match unbeaten streak with Bournemouth at the end of last season, the longest among current Premier League coaches.
On the other side, Jaissle also had a promising start when he won his debut matches in all three previous clubs, Liefering, Salzburg and Al-Ahli. He will aim to maintain Newcastle's home form, where they have scored 14 goals and conceded 13 times in the last 7 Premier League matches.
Liverpool has a contrasting statistic when losing 9 away matches in the Premier League last season, including 4 defeats in the last 5 away games. This is their highest number of away defeats in a season since the 2011-2012 season.
However, Liverpool still has good results in the opening round. They are unbeaten for 13 consecutive Premier League seasons in the first match, including 10 wins and 3 draws. Newcastle is also on a 4-match unbeaten opening streak, with 3 wins and 1 draw.
Head-to-head record
One thing that almost always appears in the confrontations between Newcastle and Liverpool is goals. The two teams have created a total of 198 goals in the Premier League, and just two more goals in this match, the pair will reach the milestone of 200 goals.
Although Newcastle has home advantage, their head-to-head history is completely in Liverpool's favor. Newcastle has not beaten Liverpool in their last 19 Premier League encounters, with 5 draws and 14 defeats.
This is Newcastle's second long streak of unbeaten matches against an opponent, after only 22 consecutive matches against Manchester City.
Score prediction: Newcastle 1-1 Liverpool
The match between Newcastle and Liverpool takes place at 10:30 PM on August 23rd (Vietnam time).
