Goals from Jota, Salah, and Alexander-Arnold gave Liverpool a hard fought 3-1 win over relegation threatened Newcastle
By Kehinde Okeowo
Mohamed Salah’s 25th minute goal takes him to his 22nd goal of the season, as Liverpool go within one point of League leaders Manchester City after beating Newcastle.
The home side missed the services of Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk and Brazilian midfielder, Fabinho who were suspected to be carrying the coronavirus.
Newcastle scored first after Jonjo Shelvey scored against his former club following a quick break in the 7th minute of the game.
Liverpool however responded with two quick goals in the space of four minutes, to go into the lead for the first time in the game.
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D go Jota equalised in the 21st minute but the goal had an element of controversy about it, as it occurred while Isaac Hayden was down in the six-yard box with a head injury.
Newcastle scorer Shelvey then went from hero to villain, after gifting a backpass to Sadio Mane, whose initial effort was save by Dubravka before Mohamed Salah scored the rebound to make it 2-1 to Liverpool
Shortly before Salah’s goal, Allan Saint-Maximin wasted an opportunity for Newcastle to go back into the lead, as he was denied by Alisson.
Liverpool made the game comfortable in the 87th minute, when Trent Alexander-Arnold scored from an assist from Roberto Firmino to end the game 3-1 in favour of Liverpool.
Reflecting on the equaliser after the match, Howe said: “I’m really disappointed with Liverpool’s first goal. I need to see it again but it was clear to me that Isaac went down holding his head immediately. In my opinion, the game should have been stopped.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing… There is a lot of talk at the moment about head injuries and I felt that was a wrong decision.
“It’s had a huge bearing on the game. We had the lead. It feels unjust and I feel it was doubly hard on our players
“I think [the referee Mike Dean] said to me he felt Isaac had held his back. For me, he held his head. He was dazed for four or five minutes. It’s a dangerous moment where we have to think about the player’s safety. I don’t think you want to see games decided when players are out of the game.
“I feel like we were really harshly treated today. It follows a similar pattern of games we’ve had where the decisions have gone against us for whatever reason.
“My feeling is the first goal and the decision for that had the key bearing on the result today and that’s the one that really aggrieves me tonight.”