Graeme Souness thinks Newcastle United away will be Liverpool’s “dangerous game” to overcome if they are to give themselves a big chance of winning the Premier League title this season.
The Reds’ 2-0 victory over Chelsea saw them leapfrog Manchester City back to the summit of the Premier League on Sunday after Pep Guardiola’s side – who still have a game in hand – had temporarily moved above them thanks to their win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
On paper, City’s fixtures look tougher with Tottenham and Manchester United are amongst their opponents with five matches to go, while Liverpool – who only have four games to play – face Cardiff, Huddersfield, Newcastle United and Wolves.
“I think, looking at them, the dangerous game for City is the United game. Derby games notoriously hard to predict,” Souness told Sky Sports. “And the dangerous game for Liverpool, for me, is Newcastle away.
“I think the next game takes care of itself, Cardiff. Although they will want to go to war, Cardiff, they’ll be fighting for their lives, I think Liverpool – given the back four and midfield they have – will deal with that, and then the three guys up front have got a goal or two.
“I think Huddersfield takes care of itself, they’re already thinking about next season. For me the Newcastle one is a worry.
“The way Rafa sets his team up, you can see he’s quite happy to sit back, absorb the pressure and try and catch them on the break.
“Tactically he’s very, very good and the support up there will be right up for that game, they’ll want to put a spoke in it.
“And then ideally you’d have been wanting Wolves to get to the cup final so their minds would have been somewhere else. We’ve seen against big teams they do well.
“But for me it’s Liverpool at Newcastle and City at Old Trafford. They are the games that will decide this league.”