Mark Lawrenson makes Newcastle United prediction ahead of clash against 'really poor' Liverpool

Writing his weekly prediction piece for BBC Sport, pundit and broadcaster Mark Lawrenson turned his attention to the big game at Anfield, and tipped the hosts to pick up a comfortable 2-0 win.

Explaining his choice, the ex-Liverpool and Republic of Ireland defender wrote: “I always thought Newcastle would get results when they really needed them and they have done exactly that in the past couple of weeks.

“The Magpies are not mathematically safe yet, of course, but they are eight points above third-bottom Fulham, who are not going to catch them now.

“Liverpool played really well in the first half against Leeds on Monday and should have scored more than the one goal they managed. In the second half, though, they were really poor and could have conceded a lot more than one.

“That is a worry, even if you factor in how good Leeds are, so the Reds will need to find some consistency to take the three points here.”

Meanwhile, Lawro's sparring partner for the week, Wolf Alice bass player Theo Ellis, tipped Newcastle to emerge victorious from a 3-2 thriller, and said: “Liverpool have had some howlers at Anfield this season so I'm going with Allan Saint-Maximin to score twice to win it for Newcastle in the last 10 minutes. I love watching him - he has got so much flair.”