The last time Newcastle beat Liverpool, Dan Burn headed in Kieran Trippier's corner and Alexander Isak scored the second. That was the League Cup final at Wembley on 16 March 2025, won 2-1, Newcastle's first major trophy since 1969 and their first domestic one since the FA Cup of 1955. Isak is a Liverpool player now, Trippier has gone, and the clubs meet again on Sunday evening at St James' Park.
Newcastle have spent the summer selling. In one window they have let go the four players who created most of their chances: Bruno Guimaraes, their captain, went to Arsenal for £75m, Sandro Tonali to Tottenham for £100m and Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £69.3m, while Trippier left as well. Guimaraes was also their leading scorer last season, on nine goals from midfield. Those three sales have taken Newcastle past £240m for the summer.
There is a reason for the emptying out. Newcastle are in a three-year settlement agreement with Uefa after breaching cost-control rules, and are now signing players under 25 in a £20m to £40m band: four of their first five summer arrivals were 20 or under. Lukas Hornicek, a 24-year-old Czech goalkeeper described at home as the new Petr Cech, came from Braga for £26m. Eddie Howe stepped down after almost five years and Matthias Jaissle replaced him, a 38-year-old who won two Asian Champions Leagues at Al-Ahli, was a serial trophy winner at Salzburg and has never managed in England. Asked to describe how he wants his teams to play, he said: "Front-footed, aggressive, vertical, high energy, intense and relentless." Livramento (calf) is not expected until 29 August, Joelinton (groin) until September.
Liverpool have been emptying out too. Mohamed Salah has gone, and Arne Slot, who won the title in his first season, was sacked in May after a second that ended in fifth. Andoni Iraola was the only candidate Liverpool spoke to. "When I came here, the owners told me everything is not perfect," he said at his unveiling. "They said we would have some challenges, we would have to replace important players leaving, we have some injuries, but we are here to solve these kind of problems."