View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Soccer Laduma (@soccer_laduma)

Salah double fires Liverpool past Newcastle

Mohamed Salah bagged a brace as Liverpool cemented top spot in the Premier League with a 4-2 win over Newcastle United at Anfield.

Reds manager Jurgen Klopp made four changes from the Boxing Day win over Burnley, as Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Luis Diaz were back in the side.

The home side got off to a lively start and could have opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Darwin Nunez played a give-and-go with Mohamed Salah in the box, but the Uruguayan was denied by Matt Dubravka.

The Reds were afforded a chance to break the deadlock after Luis Diaz earned a penalty after being brought down by Sven Botman. Mohamed Salah stepped up but his effort down the middle was saved by Dubravka.

Newcastle, meanwhile, enjoyed more of the ball in the latter stages of the first half and they even had a goal disallowed for offside after Dan Burn had nodded post Alisson Becker. 

However, the visitors' resistance did break shortly after the halftime break when Diaz did well to pick out Nunez, who unselfishly teed up Salah for the simple finish from three yards out.

Six minutes later, Newcastle got themselves back on level terms as Anthony Gordon skipped past a couple challenges before playing in Isak, who calmly slotted into the far corner.

Jurgen Klopp introduced Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo for the final 25 minutes and the impact paid off when the former got on the end of Salah's pass before teeing up Curtis Jones for the close-range finish.

Liverpool did add a third goal soon after as Gakpo finished off Salah's inviting cross in the box, before Newcastle set up a nervy finish when Botman nodded home a corner to make it 3-2.

The Reds were then awarded a second penalty in the final four minutes for Dubravka's foul on Jota, which allowed Salah to step up once again and he made no mistake the second time to wrap up the win.

You must be SIGNED IN to read and post comments.

Click HERE to register!

Comments