It is crunch time tonight if Liverpool want to maintain their push on the top 4 as they host Newcastle at 8pm on Sky Sports 1.

Liverpool are sitting in 6th place, 7 points behind Manchester City in 4th and 2 points behind Southampton in 5th, with their game in hand to be used up tonight. After City suffered a bruising defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, Liverpool’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League received a slight boost; however, it is vital for the Reds to win tonight if they want to hold their fate in their own hands instead of leaving it in the stumbling and clumsy grip of the out-of-form blue faction of Manchester.



Since their own win over Manchester City back at the start of March, somewhat of the peak of Liverpool’s post-Christmas run, things have been more mixed for Anfield’s finest. Liverpool drew against, and then beat, Blackburn in the FA Cup, as well as scoring victories over Burnley and Swansea in the league. However, they also suffered a tough defeat to Manchester United and an embarrassing 4-1 rout at the hands of Arsenal in their past two Premier League games, leaving Liverpool’s current form slight less robust then it was a few weeks ago.

If Liverpool are seeing struggles near the top, they are faring better than Newcastle, who are languishing in 13th and still have a slender chance of being relegated. If Newcastle continue on their dismal current run of form, which has seen 7 defeats in their past 12 Premier League games with only 2 wins, they stand the chance of being dragged back into the battle at the bottom, leaving them with a slim, yet still present, Spreadex Relegation Index 50-25-10 spread of 0-0.5.



Both sides have struggled on the goal front this season with the respective departures of Luis Suarez and Loic Remy, with Newcastle especially failing to score in 5 of their last 7 away games. However, throughout the entire history of this Premier League fixture there has not been a goalless draw. In fact, traditionally, a league match-up between Liverpool and Newcastle has provided its fair share of goals, leading our Spreadex traders to off a Total Goals spread of 2.8-3. If each side wants to maintain this record, then Daniel Sturridge (10/3 to score first) and Raheem Sterling (9/2) for Liverpool, and Ayoze Perez (11/1) and Emmanuel Riviere (10/1) for Newcastle need to rediscover their scoring form ahead of tonight.

Liverpool will likely be missing Balotelli and Lallana through injury alongside Skrtel and Gerrard through suspension; they will also have one eye on their FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa on Sunday. Newcastle, for their part, will just want to put some distance between them and the bottom three, and try and regain some pride after the sting of a Tyne-Wear derby defeat at the start of the month. Given the importance of the match for the Liverpool, and the utter limpness of the Toon, the Reds have the overwhelming support of our traders and clients alike, at a Liverpool/Newcastle Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 1.35-1.55.