MatchThe opposition lowdown: Newcastle United
Season preparations
It has been a summer of change on Tyneside as Matthias Jaissle has replaced Eddie Howe as head coach.
The 38-year-old German arrived from Al-Ahli at the start of the month.
Jaissle has been in charge for four of Newcastle's six pre-season friendlies, most recently against Bayer Leverkusen and RC Strasbourg at home on back-to-back days.
They also faced Everton, Valencia, Bristol City and Gateshead in their 2026-27 build-up.
Summer transfer business
Dan Burn has been named the new Magpies captain following the departure of Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal.
Anthony Gordon (Barcelona), Matt Targett (Hull City), Sandro Tonali (Tottenham Hotspur) and Kieran Trippier (Wolverhampton Wanderers) have also left this summer.
But through the door have been two goalkeepers in Ewen Jaouen and Lukas Hornicek.
Attacker Bazoumana Toure joined from Hoffenheim and right-back Amar Dedic from Benfica.
Reinforcement in midfield comes from Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba, arriving from AFC Ajax and AS Monaco respectively.
Team news
Joelinton and Tino Livramento have been ruled out of the 4.30pm BST kick-off.
Burn and Lewis Miley made their first appearances in pre-season last weekend, and their readiness for 90 minutes will be assessed.
Previous meetings
Aged 16 years and 361 days, Rio Ngumoha became Liverpool's youngest ever scorer by netting a 100th-minute winner in this fixture last season.
Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike had put Liverpool 2-0 up, with Newcastle down to 10 men by this point following Gordon's sending-off.
The hosts' fightback, through Guimaraes and William Osula, was ultimately in vain due to Ngumoha's record-breaking finish.
When the sides met at Anfield in early 2026, the Magpies went a goal up before shipping four without reply to fall to a 4-1 defeat. Ekitike (two), Florian Wirtz and Ibrahima Konate were on the scoresheet for the Reds that evening.
What was said
Jaissle, Newcastle head coach
"I'm looking forward [to it], I have to say. I can't wait now. First match at home, fully sold out, it will be an amazing privilege to be the coach of Newcastle United against a top team in the league. I'm excited.
"[I want to] see development, that we see improvement in our way of playing, that we see more and more togetherness of the group. Especially when you have such a transition like we have right now with many challenges, then it's always the best case that you see that improvement, you see that development. That will be then for now a big success."
Pre-match stats
There have been 198 goals scored in Premier League meetings between the clubs, and with two goals in this game it would be the third fixture to reach 200 in the competition – after Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur (211) and Arsenal v Tottenham (200).
Each of the last three Premier League fixtures between Newcastle and Liverpool at St. James' Park has had a result-altering goal scored after 90+ minutes.
Newcastle have not lost their opening league match in any of the last four seasons (won three, drawn one) since losing 4-2 to West Ham United in 2021-22.
Jaissle has won his first game in charge at each of his three previous clubs (FC Liefering, Red Bull Salzburg and Al-Ahli). His Al-Ahli side were also unbeaten at home in the Saudi Pro League last season (won 14, drawn three), winning the last 13 in a row.