Virgil van Dijk is at Anfield, having a little chat with Jordan Henderson in the sun.

Will we see him play again this season?

Football Focus

We'll have the usual football coverage going on today.

If you stick BBC One on at 12 (or iPlayer/the play button at the top of this page) you'll be able to watch Football Focus. Dan Walker and guests look ahead to the weekend’s fixtures, including today’s clash between London rivals West Ham and Chelsea.

Final Score is at 16:15, with a panel of experts running through the afternoon's football results from the Premier League and beyond.

BBC Radio 5 Live coverage starts at 12, with Steve Crossman building up to the day's action, including updates from Liverpool v Newcastle.

And then later there's Match of the Day, of course. That's on BBC One at 22:20.

Ah, Steve Barnes. Part Shankly, part Sherlock.

But did he write them?

Wait a second, these are FAKE arms!

Uefa would come down on Crilly like a tonne of bricks.

Paul Brannan: If we’re going down the Roy of the Rovers route, then the fictional Super League has to include Princes Park - Mighty Mouse AND Hot-Shot Hamish.

Sean Adams: No fictional super league should launch without Amhurst Albion, home of “Deadshot” Keen, the original owner of Billy’s Boots.

Kindergaten Klopp: What about Escape FROM Victory, and the Craggy Island squad in the All-Priests Over 75's Five-A-Side Football Challenge Match? Jack Hackett was poetry in motion in his day.

Image source, Getty Images

It is no coincidence that Newcastle's improved form has coincided with the return to fitness of Allan Saint-Maximin.

The winger offers something that nobody else in the United squad possesses - namely the combination of speed, trickery, direct running and a touch of the unpredictable.

Callum Wilson is also flirting with a full return, making that forward line look a lot more potent. Sorry, Joelinton.

As my colleague Tom Rostance rightly points out, no fictional Super League is complete without the Michael Caine-led Allied XI from Escape to Victory.

Got a lot of good keepers in this competition. Look at them. Great team. Great kit.

Image source, Rex Features

Did anyone think Newcastle were actually going to get relegated this season? Oh you did. And you. Wow, there are a lot of hands up. One, two, three... you know what, let's just say a lot.

It was certainly looking very ropey for a little while for Steve Bruce's lads and while they're not out of the woods yet things are looking a lot better than they were, especially after they were turned over 3-0 at Brighton.

Since then, though, they have drawn once and won twice, taking them eight points clear of 18th place Fulham, who have only 15 points left to play for and have only taken one point from their last five.

I did have a bit of a go this morning at putting together a fictional Super League. This is what I've got so far...

• The Hurricanes (obviously)
• Melchester Rovers (no brainer)
• Jossie's Giants (probably the Spurs of the league)
• Fulchester United (best keeper in the competition)
• Harchester United (just keep the snipers out of the stands)

• AFC Richmond (new kids on the block)

Any other suggestions? Or queries/approval for the sides already in there? We'll need a justification for inclusion as well.

So we don't have to bang on about it all day, I'm going to cover off all the latest European Super League-related news in one hit. Feel free to go down the rabbit hole if you wish...

• Chelsea 'deeply regret' involvement in competition
• Arsenal fans gather to protest against club's owners
• Tottenham fans call for club's board to resign
• West Ham boss calls for a unified British competition
• Premier League 'big six' took slap over plans - Steve Bruce
• European Super League Q&A: Why it failed - and will clubs try again?

Liverpool playing all the forwards. Good luck Ciaran Clark and Paul Dummett.

Liverpool

Liverpool make just one change to the side which drew with Leeds in midweek as Mo Salah returns to the starting XI.

He replaces James Milner so one of the attackers - presumably Diogo Jota? - will drop a bit deeper.

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Kabak, Robertson; Thiago, Wijnaldum, Jota; Mane, Firmino, Salah.

Newcastle had a fine win against West Ham last weekend and Steve Bruce names the same side.

Newcastle: Dubravka; Murphy, Fernandez, Clark, Dummett, Ritchie; Longstaff, Shelvey, Almiron; Saint-Maximin, Joelinton

With no fans in the ground, we simply can't have a repeat of the thrills and spills of that gripping game today. The atmosphere was such a big part of the occasion.

Although, I'd be shocked if we do get a rollercoaster, see-saw 4-3. With all due respect, Kevin Keegan's Newcastle and Steve Bruce's Newcastle are very, very different beasts.

I appreciate we're going to have plenty of younger readers today, many of whom won't have been alive for Liverpool's 4-3 win over Newcastle in 1996. You'll have to take my word for it just how superb the game was.

Liverpool led 1-0 after two minutes, trailed 2-1 after 14, drew level and fell behind again in the space of two second half minutes before Stan Collymore stepped up.

He netted once in the 67th and then, sensing timing was everything, fired in the winner two minutes into added time.

Famously, it left Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan slumped over advertising boards, mentally and physically exhausted.

It was one of the pivotal results in that season's title race, meaning Newcastle faltered as Manchester United came good. It also led to this (with credit to Sky Sports)...

We start with a fixture that is ingrained into the very fabric of the Premier League and representative of it at its gripping, dramatic, spine-tingling best...

I know many of you are probably sick to death of the European Super League now. I can't promise you it won't get mentioned at all during the course of this live text coverage of today's Premier League games.

However, what I can assure you is that I'll be focusing mainly on the actual football, because we've got three matches to get through with repercussions at both ends of the table and with the possibility for a fair bit of excitement.