Premier League, March 8, 3pm, Anfield

Every so often a movie will come along with a familiar fight scene: the protagonists start bashing each other in the face, and a rowdy crowd, made up perhaps of their fellow prisoners, forms to urge them to bash harder. After a while, though, it becomes clear that one of the scrappers is taking a bit of a pasting, but he won’t accept he’s beaten. Gradually the crowd is sickened by the spectacle, and falls silent as the loser climbs groggily to his feet only to get cracked in the mouth again and spin back into the dust. This scenario is repeated until the point has been made that the loser is a determined so-and-so, if a bit mental and not best capable of making decisions for his own good. And so to Kevin Keegan. Back on his feet after last week’s heartbreaker to Blackburn, this weekend it’s Liverpool’s turn to knock him over. Newcastle have only won once at Anfield in the Premier League, in 1994, and since then they have never managed to stop Liverpool from scoring. On only two occasions have they held them to a single goal. On six occasions, Liverpool have scored three or more. Stay down Kevin. Just stay down, man.

The statistics

* Fernando Torres has bagged a hat-trick in his last two games at Anfield.

* Newastle have scored a paltry seven goals on their last eleven away trips - just 0.6 per game.

* Newcastle’s last five away trips and Liverpool’s last five home games have all seen over 2.5 goals.

For more statistical information on this game, check out the chickendinner betting preview