Liverpool Beat Newcastle In Six-Goal Thriller To Go Three Points Clear In Premier League Title Race

Mo Salah missed a penalty, scored two goals and also provided an assist in his final game for Liverpool before flying off to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Liverpool Beat Newcastle In Six-Goal Thriller To Go Three Points Clear In Premier League Title Race
Liverpool Beat Newcastle In Six-Goal Thriller To Go Three Points Clear In Premier League Title Race /

Mo Salah missed a penalty, scored two goals and also provided an assist in his final game for Liverpool before flying off to the Africa Cup of Nations.

His all-action display helped Liverpool beat Newcastle United 4-2 at Anfield - a result that saw the Reds move three points clear of Aston Villa at the top of the Premier League table.

Jurgen Klopp's men would have won by an even greater margin were it not for a superb performance by Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka, who made 10 saves.

Liverpool's Expected Goals figure of 7.27 was the highest on record in a Premier League game.

Dubravka's second save of the game saw him keep out a Salah spot-kick in the 22nd minute after Sven Botman had fouled Luis Diaz.

Salah then opened the scoring early in the second half by finishing off a fine counter-attacking move involving Darwin Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai and Diaz.

This was Salah's 150th Premier League goal for Liverpool - his 152nd in the competition overall, after he netted twice in 13 league matches as a Chelsea player between 2014 and 2015.

Mo Salah pictured celebrating after scoring his 150th Premier League goal for Liverpool, during a home game against Newcastle United in January 2024
Mo Salah pictured celebrating after scoring his 150th Premier League goal for Liverpool :: IMAGO/Sportimage/Gary Oakley

Salah's opener came from Liverpool's 20th shot of the game. But Newcastle equalized five minutes later when Alexander Isak found the net from Newcastle's second shot.

Curtis Jones then restored the home side's lead in the 74th minute by scoring his first EPL goal of the season thanks to an assist by Diogo Jota.

A superb Salah cross then set up Cody Gakpo to make it 3-1 four minutes later.

But Newcastle hit back again when Botman headed in from a Sean Longstaff corner.

Salah was presented with a chance to atone for his earlier penalty miss when Liverpool were awarded a second spot-kick after Dubravka was harshly adjudged to have fouled Jota, who threw himself to the ground after dribbling around the keeper.

After unsuccessfully shooting down the middle in the first half, Salah coolly slotted his second penalty to Dubravka's right to wrap up an impressive win.

Salah could now be unavailable for Liverpool's next eight games in all competitions if Egypt go deep at AFCON.

Highlights: Liverpool 4-2 Newcastle


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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.