As he sat in the Anfield stands, Arne Slot got the same view as the supporters this season: Liverpool heading towards the Premier League title after efficiently brushing aside another opponent.
The sanction for Slot after confronting the match officials in the Merseyside derby draw was a two-match touchline ban but the punishment has not dented his “dream” of winning the title in his rookie season in English football.
His team are in such a groove that it can run itself with Slot at the back of the directors’ box on the naughty step rather than in the technical area. They were comfortable after goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis MacAllister, with their opponents for next month’s Carabao Cup final failing to register a shot on target.
Slot punched the air when Szoboszlai’s goal effectively won the game, and his fellow spectators in the stands were also celebrating when the news of Arsenal dropping points came through. With a 13-point lead established, Slot’s team are approaching the stage when only a Devon Loch fall from the top will prevent them being crowned.
Mohamed Salah added to his assist tally when he set up the second goal, although this victory was not about one match-winner. Liverpool overpowered Eddie Howe’s side in the opening period, then ruthlessly closed out the game when it looked like it might get close.
Full report to follow . . .
10:45 PM GMT
And finally, here’s Arne Slot
Yes I did [like what I saw from the stands] though there are things to improve. It was maybe concentration, after five games in 15 days. Not only a very good team performance but a very good squad performance.
Dominik has been very important for us this season and it has not always been seen. more important than his goal is he wins the ball back for us, he runs for two players. Still a long way to go and in March we play only one game.
We have a big game, the final, the international break, and then two very difficult games against Paris Saint-Germain and that’s what we focus on more than the league. The players have two days off now.
I don’t think it means so much [an advantage for the League Cup final]. It was a different Newcastle tonight than the one we saw at Newcastle, their pressing etc. Isak was injured or maybe rested, Joelinton was not there...
10:38 PM GMT
Still waiting for the managers
Benítez and McManaman have been yapping for 20 minutes.
10:27 PM GMT
The goalscorers talk to TNT Sports
10:20 PM GMT
Man of the match Szoboszlai speaks
I am really happy to help the team and that is the most important. If we are first in the league, I am happy.
After mathematically they have no chance to get us [we will celebrate]. We are 13 points clear and really happy.
10:11 PM GMT
After tonight’s matches
This is how they stand: Liverpool are 13 points clear with 10 to play –
10:09 PM GMT
Full time: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Salah keeps running at Hall and Gordon helps him out at the price of a corner.
Liverpool take it short and the referee blows for time before they can swing the cross in.
10:08 PM GMT
90+7 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Salah, who has scored in his last eight games, is trying to make it nine in a row but can’t beat Hall who has stuck to his thankless task diligently and with skill.
10:07 PM GMT
90+5 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Dominik Szoboszlai is Ally McCoist’s man of the match. Who would argue with that?
10:06 PM GMT
90+3 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Salah works the ball to Gakpo in the box and he flicks it up to set himself for a bicycle volley that he hooks wide of the left post. Olé. It’s champagne and cigar time.
10:04 PM GMT
90+1 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Seven minutes of stoppage time are signalled for those three blood injuries, to Szoboszlai, Wilson and Van Dijk.
10:03 PM GMT
90 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Liverpool stick the ball in the back of the net via Gakpo’s stabbed shot but it’s erased immediately by the whistle for Konate’s arm on Pope’s shoulder which Ally McCoist questions, saying Konate was above Pope and his action was not unnatural nor much of an impediment to the keeper.
10:01 PM GMT
88 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Now Newcastle make their fifth and final change:
Longstaff → Bruno.
Liverpool break down the middle, Szoboszlai with a a handsome pass to Salah running down the inside-right channel and the No 11 again uses the outside of his left boot, this time to shoot and Pope, at full stretch, palms it away smartly, diving to his right.
09:58 PM GMT
86 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Liverpool’s last two subs:
Jones → Mac Allister
Nunez → Diaz.
09:57 PM GMT
84 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Endo wins a monster of a tackle and sets Szoboszlai off on a run up the inside-right. He enters the box and lays it off to Salah who makes time stand still for a second to line up Hall and try to bend a shot round him but the defender does well to block and Newcastle clear their lines.
09:55 PM GMT
82 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Bruno studs Mac Allister up the tuchas, accidentally but painfully.
09:54 PM GMT
80 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Murphy receives the first yellow card of the night for grabbing Salah’s biceps, then his shoulder, then his waist, then his forearm to stop him bombing clear on halfway. Salah smiles. He’s a happy soul tonight, comfortable that he’s playing so well, no one can live with him.
09:51 PM GMT
78 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Salah sprays a crossfield pass to Diaz who shifts it quickly inside from the left to Gakpo. The former PSV forward tries to shift it with a touch to his right to open up a shooting path to goal but Burn and Miley scrap hard to stop him getting a shot through the crowd.
09:49 PM GMT
76 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Slot sends word down to make two more substitutions.
Endo → Gravenberch
Quansah → Alexander-Arnold.
09:47 PM GMT
74 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Another magnificent Salah pass with the outside of his left foot, bent from the right corner of the box to the left of the six-yard box, arcing it away from Pope to Diaz who meets it on the stretch and can only pop it into the side-netting.
09:46 PM GMT
72 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Szoboszlai wins the ball and dinks a cute pass down the right for Salah whose feet are a blur and then he plays a lovely pass with the outside of his left for Alexander-Arnold’s underlapping run to the right of the six-yard box but the full-back swings at fresh air when he tries to turn it in, missing it by a whisker.
09:44 PM GMT
70 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Barnes is playing closer to Hall, trying to help him with Salah.
09:41 PM GMT
67 min: Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
Mass Newcastle substitutions:
Osula → Wilson
Miley → Tonali
Trippier → Livramento
Barnes → Willock.
09:35 PM GMT
GOAL!
Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0 (Mac Allister) Sloppy pass from Tonali gives the ball to Mac Allister on halfway and he barrels forward towards the box. He lays it off to Salah 15 yards out and to his right and the winger feigns to shoot, feints back to beat Hall and Burn then turn back to pass square to Mac Allister. Bruno lets Mac Allister go and he wraps his instep around a right-foot shot that fizzes into the top left corner.
09:34 PM GMT
62 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
No Mac Allister legs Bruno up at the cost of a free-kick 10 yards inside the Newcastle half.
First change:
Gakpo → Jota.
09:33 PM GMT
61 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Burn is enraged that he has been penalised with a free-kick for a sliding challenge on Szoboszlai in which he won the ball but definitely then kicked up his leg to trip him up to stop him pouncing on the spinning ball.
09:31 PM GMT
59 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Bit dull this after hugely enjoyable matches against Man City and Forest respectively on Sunday. Bitty, lack of precision, lack of penetration.
09:28 PM GMT
57 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Tsimikas is hurt by Murphy’s late challenge after the left-back put his foot through a clearance and Murphy arrived a second later and pole-axed him.
09:27 PM GMT
55 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Van Dijk and Wilson are back on. And Newcastle are probing 30 yards from the Liverpool goal. Eventually Murphy forces the cross and Van Dijk lumps it away.
09:26 PM GMT
53 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Gravenberch drops into the back four as Van Dijk and Wilson continue receiving treatment at the start of the half. Alexander-Arnold sprays a long pass up the right for Salah. Hall challenges for it but it spins out for a Newcastle throw before he needs to rattle Salah.
09:24 PM GMT
51 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Now Wilson is bleeding, on the brow after trying to dink a header across goal and in at the far post from Gordon’s cross. He ducked to glance it on and Was clattered by Van Dijk after making contact.
Not much action so far, unless you like watching medics bandage wounds. And hey, I’m not judging you.
09:21 PM GMT
49 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
He seems to have caught the ball right in the hooter and he goes off to have big wads of cotton thrust up each nostril to stem the bleeding.
09:20 PM GMT
48 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Gordon takes and smacks Szoboszlai, in the wall, flush in the face and he needs treatment.
09:18 PM GMT
46 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Rafa Benítez advises Newcastle to keep it tight for half an hour and then try to grab a goal. They might be off schedule as they have a free-kick about 24 yards out, fairly central.
09:10 PM GMT
Half-time verdict
If Alexander Isak was on the pitch, Newcastle United would probably be heading in at half-time level.
Callum Wilson has been a great player for Newcastle but the 32-year-old has had so many injuries, asking him to start in a game of this level, against Liverpool’s centre-backs, he has really struggled. This is only his second start of the season, the other coming against Birmingham City in the FA Cup. And it shows.
Newcastle have had one excellent chance, Wilson running in behind. The sort of chance that Isak normally gobbles up, and he didn’t even hit the target. The offside flag, when he mistimed his run – probably because he no longer trusts his pace to get away from the defenders these days – also spared him after another awful miss when one on one with Alisson.
09:04 PM GMT
Half-time: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Liverpool deservedly in front and Wilson’s one chance apart, it’s been all the home team in terms of goal threat. Still, it’s a narrow lead and Newcastle are still in touch if they cane get Gordon, Murphy and Willock on the ball and driving forward.
09:02 PM GMT
45 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Slot heads downstairs from his eyrie with a minute to go.
09:00 PM GMT
43 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Brazil vs Argentina as Bruno wraps his leg around Mac Allister as both tried to hack the ball away while standing upright and shoulder to shoulder. Attwell whistles for a Liverpool free-kick in their own half.
08:58 PM GMT
41 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Van Dijk comes off the worst in an aerial challenge with Burn, landing heavily. Not many knock Van Dijk off his feet. He’s winded but will be OK.
08:55 PM GMT
38 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Salah wafts his wand of a left-foot to shoot from the right of the box but can’t make it dip in time to creep under the bar. Diaz, who has been magnificent so far, set that up too, with another run in off the flank and off Livramento.
08:53 PM GMT
36 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Szoboszlai puts his foot through a shot from 20 yards that fades round the wrong side of the post. Or right side if you’re a Newcastle fan.
08:52 PM GMT
33 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Pope, in a flap, hits Salah when trying to chip a back-pass over the Liverpool forward. A moment of panic does not degenerate into a crisis as the ball bounces off Salah and drifts out for a goal-kick much to Pope’s relief.
08:48 PM GMT
31 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Route one almost proves effective for Newcastle as Wilson blindsides Konate who lets a long ball bounce and the centre-forward knocks it towards goal down the inside-left channel, controls the bouncing ball with his knee to set up a shot but tries a curler instead of a drive and slices it wide of the right post.
08:46 PM GMT
29 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Diaz’s tenacity allows him to telescope out a right leg on halfway and mug Livramento. Snapping back on to his feet he sets off dancing upfield, with poise and balance, until he gets to the byline and cuts the ball back to Tsimikas who opens his body up shoot with his right, hideously, the ball wobbling away towards the corner flag.
08:44 PM GMT
27 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Szoboszlai is playing with great confidence and dare I say swagger, trying reverse passes, travelling with the ball at speed, timing his arrivals into the box with perfection.
08:42 PM GMT
25 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Schar stops another Liverpool breakaway with some octopus-style obstruction of Diaz on halfway, tentacles everywhere. Newcastle defend it well, earn a throw and Gordon is penalised for a foul throw, an uncommon transgression at this level.
08:40 PM GMT
23 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Konaté leaves Bruno for dead and glides forward, linking Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Salah. Neat reverse pass from Salah almost sets up Szoboszlai but it’s blocked so he tries to do it all himself and goes slaloming into the box before running into a brick wall.
08:38 PM GMT
21 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Neat little header from Diaz 20 yards inside his own half ingnites a Liverpool quick-fire counter as he races on to his own lay-off after diddling Livramento. He feeds the sprinting Jota who flies down the left and tries to cross to Salah by the right of the spot but Hall peels off his man and boots it away.
08:36 PM GMT
19 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Alexander-Arnold wedges a 40-yard pass over the Newcastle defence for Salah but when he lays it off the return pass is too strong and goes off for a goal-kick.
Nick Pope needs a good game to justify the decision to restore him to the team ahead of Martin Dubravka.
He did not have one against Nottingham Forest last weekend and you have to question why he did not manage to keep out that opener for Liverpool. Yes, the shot goes through the legs of two Newcastle players, but he looked painfully slow to get down to it.
08:33 PM GMT
16 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Sensational miss from Wilson, mercifully from an offside position when Gordon, drifting in from outside left to inside right, bent the perfect pass through behind Konaté. Alisson raced out and Wilson chipped him but the shot drifted wide of the gaping goal as Alisson’s slide took him outside the area. The flag saves some blushes... but not all.
08:29 PM GMT
13 min: Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0
Diaz dazzles Livramento again with quick feet and a dip of the shoulder but this time his cross is cut out by Schar.
08:26 PM GMT
GOAL!
Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0 (Szoboszlai) Diaz faces up Schar, skitters forward with the ball under immaculate control before bending a pass from the left of the box with the outside of his boot to the Hungary captain. Szoboszlai made space for himself by halting his run while Tonali, tracking him, kept going and he drilled a shot through Burn’s legs to open the scoring.
08:25 PM GMT
9 min: Liverpool 0 Newcastle 0
Excellent tackle from Bruno to stop Alexander-Arnold teeing up Mac Allister to shoot and Newcastle break up the right with Murphy and Wilson hares forward to try to give him a target, as does Gordon. But Murphy snatches at a cross from too deep and it sails over the bar.
08:23 PM GMT
7 min: Liverpool 0 Newcastle 0
Newcastle are defending in a 4-5-1 off the ball, trying to remain compact in midfield. Liverpool are happy to remain patient, playing with poise and pushing Tsimikas and Alexander-Arnold on. Wilson is very deep.
08:21 PM GMT
5 min: Liverpool 0 Newcastle 0
Liverpool almost fashion a half-chance for Diaz to shoot but Livramento makes a vital interception to cut out Salah’s cute pass.
08:20 PM GMT
3 min: Liverpool 0 Newcastle 0
Konate stands still on the ball as Liverpool move it slowly around the back four for a minute before triggering the break with Alexander-Arnold and Jota running up the right. Salah goes down in the box when Hall falls and trips him with his arm but Stuart Attwell gives the free-kick to Newcastle not the penalty Salah wanted. Odd referee Attwell. I don’t think he’s up to it. Looked like a stonebonker to me.
08:16 PM GMT
1 min: Liverpool 0 Newcastle 0
Liverpool kick off with the ringing endorsement of Ally McCoist ringing in their ears, backing them all the way to win. They’re defending the Kop and concede a throw-in around halfway on the Newcastle left.
08:14 PM GMT
Out come the teams
It’s blowing a hooley in Liverpool tonight, and chucking it down. Liverpool, natch, in all red. Newcastle also in their home kit of black and white stripes, black shorts and socks.
07:58 PM GMT
Eddie Howe speaks to TNT Sports
Really disappointing that we lose Alex but we can’t take any risks with him. It’s a big blow because he’s been so good for us this season. We don’t know how long he’ll be out for. but it doesn’t look too serious
Difficult call to leave out Lewis Miley. He can be really proud of his efforts last week but we have to manage his load so Sandro comes back in.
We have to be brave. We have to be everything we weren’t against Man City and we’re keen to put that right, our performance in our last away game.
It’s a very difficult place to come, our mental approach has to be absolutely faultless but we also have to be true to ourselves.
07:48 PM GMT
Arne Slot on how he will manage from the gantry
07:40 PM GMT
If you want to keep abreast of the other matches...
Women’s Nations League: England vs Spain
07:19 PM GMT
Lucky Liverpool?
They get to play Man City without Haaland and Newcastle without Isak in the space of four days.
07:18 PM GMT
Isak update
Alexander Isak’s absence with a “slight groin” problem will send a shiver of dread through Newcastle United supporters given how vital the Sweden international is to the team.
But I also cannot help but think the decision not to risk their best player in this game has been made with one eye on the Carabao Cup final which is coming up in March between these two sides.
With an FA Cup home tie against Brighton followed by a ten day break until the trip to West Ham, this is as good a time as any to give Isak a rest and make sure he is right for Wembley.
Manager Eddie Howe – with the help of performance director James Bunce – has previously pulled players out of the team when they move into the “red zone” physically. Isak has played a lot of football recently and I suspect this is one of those moments. Better to take Isak out of this game and potentially the cup tie against Brighton and avoid a more serious problem developing before the cup final.
It does not do much good for Newcastle’s chances of a first league win at Anfield since 1994 though. Callum Wilson, his replacement, has barely played this season because of a succession of injuries stretching back to July.
07:15 PM GMT
Your teams in black and white
Liverpool Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Jota, Diaz.
Substitutes Kelleher, Robertson, Quansah, Endo, Chiesa, Jones, Gakpo, Elliott, Nunez.
Newcastle Pope; Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall; Bruno, Tonali, Willock; Murphy, Wilson, Gordon.
Substitutes Dubravka, Ruddy, Trippier, Targett, Krafth, Barnes, Longstaff, Miley, Osula.
Referee Stuart Attwell (Nuneaton).
07:07 PM GMT
Dream a little dream
Arne Slot’s programme notes, written before his touchline ban, has told the Liverpool fans to dream about the title. “We do not just want you to dream, we need you to dream,” he wrote. “This is a big part of what makes this club so special because it challenges the players and the staff to do everything that we possibly can to be the best that we can be.
“But it is important that you know that for us to stand any chance of living up to those hopes it takes an incredible amount of hard work every single day. There can be no let up.”
07:04 PM GMT
No Isak in Newcastle squad
He has a groin injury apparently. Wilson starts in his stead and Tonali replaces Miley.
07:02 PM GMT
Liverpool make two changes
Tsimikas comes in for Robertson and Jota for Jones:
06:29 PM GMT
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06:29 PM GMT
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06:25 PM GMT
Preview: Thirty-one years and counting
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of tonight’s Premier League match between Liverpool, who started today 11 points clear of Arsenal at the top of the table, and Newcastle who are in sixth but could climb as high as third if they win and Forest and Man City lose. Mind you, a victory at Anfield has eluded generations of Newcastle fans. Their last league win there came in 1994, when Rob Lee and Andy Cole scored, was their first for 44 years and the one before that was in 1933. And it’s not just at Anfield – Liverpool have won 11 and drawn five of their last 16 meetings since Georginio Wijnaldum, then playing for the Toon, struck in the 90th minute in December 2015 at St James’ in the first few days of Jürgen Klopp’s spell in charge.
Eddie Howe, who was riled by the way his side threw away two goals when 4-1 up against Forest on Sunday, is well aware of that dreadful record and says they have to find some consistency of performance to compete. “We need to be close to a perfect game from our perspective,” he said. “Learning from the recent game against Manchester City would be a good starting point for us where we didn’t execute the aggressive game plan that we wanted.
“We need to learn from that at Anfield which is a great environment to play football in but not good if you’re not totally there. We have to acknowledge that and make sure we turn up. Psychologically it’s huge. It’s an emotional stadium, we’re going to need to start well and have a threat in the game.”
While Joelinton and club captain Jamaal Lascelles are long-term absentees Newcastle could welcome Sven Botman back tonight. Connor Bradley and Joe Gomez are still missing for the home side but Darwin Núñez, who has had a Dutch rocket inserted up his fundament for barely shaking a leg against Wolves and Villa, has apparently trained like a demon and Arne Slot, who is starting his two-match ban for the sin of sarcasm, hinted that he would be involved in some capacity tonight.
