Liverpool inflicted all-time Premier League nightmare on Newcastle – but Alexander Isak goal might be worse

Liverpool’s Premier League opener against Newcastle is also Alexander Isak against Newcastle.

The £125million striker endured a torrid, injury-afflicted first season with the Reds and has yet to face his former club – but that’s all set to change this Sunday when Liverpool travel to Newcastle on the opening weekend of the Premier League campaign, live on talkSPORT.

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And if Isak gets on the scoresheet at St. James’ Park, it could be even more painful than what Liverpool did to Newcastle back in April 2013….

In their first game without the suspended Luis Suarez, banned for biting Chelsea‘s Branislav Ivanovic, Brendan Rodgers’ Reds put Alan Pardew’s Magpies to the sword in unforgiving fashion, running riot in a 6-0 win on Tyneside

Perhaps ominously for Newcastle, this weekend’s clash will be the start of life after another superstar forward for Liverpool: Mo Salah.

The Reds’ all-time leading Premier League goalscorer, integral to both their top-flight title triumphs during his time at the club, bid farewell to Anfield this summer after nine years, bringing an end to one of the most scintillating spells the Premier League has ever seen.

Liverpool haven’t replaced Salah in the current transfer window – because, in one sense, they’d done it last year, breaking the British transfer record to sign Isak.

The prolific Sweden international’s protracted and messy exit from Newcastle didn’t lend itself to a fast start at his new club, and a nasty leg injury sustained while scoring against Tottenham in December sidelined him for almost four months – but the fact remains Isak is a player in his prime who arrived on Merseyside off the back of consecutive 20-goal Premier League campaigns.

Salah was Liverpool’s most dependable source of goals for most of his time with the Reds – and Isak, while playing as a centre-forward rather than on the right, should be his natural successor in that regard.

There’s still business to be done – and head coach Andoni Iraola, preparing to take charge of his first competitive game, admitted to Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher in an interview for Sky Sports that the Reds would “definitely sign [more] players” before deadline day on September 1.

That could include Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, who has been repeatedly linked with a move to Anfield, with talkSPORT reporting last month that he would be keen on such a switch.

Barcola would be more akin to Salah’s replacement positionally speaking, albeit on the left.

But Isak will hope to receive ample service from his existing Liverpool teammates when he finally comes up against Newcastle for the first time since his acrimonious departure.

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And a goal from their former hero – especially if it decides the outcome – would no doubt leave in an incredibly sour taste in the mouth for the Toon Army.

Isak had seemingly cemented his status as a Newcastle legend by scoring what proved to be the winner at Wembley as the Magpies beat Liverpool in the 2025 Carabao Cup final, ending their 70-year trophy drought.

But that all came crumbling down when he so openly pushed to leave, effectively going on strike last pre-season before eventually signing for Liverpool on deadline day.

The St. James’ Park faithful can be expected to make their feelings on Isak loud and clear on Sunday – though the team, under new boss Matthias Jaissle, cannot afford to be distracted by the 26-year-old’s unwelcome return.

Defender Dan Burn, a boyhood Newcastle supporter, has stressed as much.

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Speaking after the Magpies’ final pre-season friendly against Strasbourg, he said: “Obviously, a lot of things happened with the [Isak] transfer – the fans don’t need motivation for that.

“But I think if you’re only concentrating on Alex, we’re making a mistake…”

For Newcastle, there’s also the motivation of ending a rotten Premier League run against Liverpool.

The Magpies haven’t beaten the Reds in the league since a Martin Skrtel own goal and Georginio Wijnaldum strike gave them a 2-0 home win in December 2015.

They’ve lost 14 of the 19 Premier League meetings between the sides since then – and as St. James’ Park celebrates the late Kevin Keegan, an icon of both clubs, what a time it would be for Newcastle snap that winless streak.