Mohamed Salah Scored Brace, Liverpool Beat Newcastle United

Mohamed Salah (right) scored a brace that gave Liverpool a 4-2 win over Newcastle United. (X/@LFC)

JAKARTA - Front player Mohamed Salah scored a brace that gave Liverpool a 4-2 win over Newcastle United in the English Premier League match at Anfield Stadium, Tuesday, January 2 in the morning WIB.

The game with a drama of six goals as Liverpool showed their best performance at Anfield. Salah also reached the milestone by scoring his 150th goal.

However, this Egyptian national team star then added one more goal which made him have collected 151 goals in his career with Liverpool.

Not only that, Salah also opened and closed through goals that gave Liverpool the beat of Newcastle.

The victory confirmed Liverpool's position at the top of the standings with 45 points. A three-point lead with Aston Villa who is ranked second.

Meanwhile, defending champions Manchester City who are in third place have points 40. Only, Man City still has one game so Liverpool should be wary of. They have the opportunity to overshadow the Reds.

Arsenal, who had led the standings, had started sluggish. After two defeats in London Derby in a row, Arsenal have immediately dropped the rankings.

Now, the Gunners who have the same points as Man City are in fourth position. Because the North London club lost the goal difference.

Meanwhile, Newcastle, who had competed at the top, finally continued to decline due to failing to maintain consistency.

Previously, The Magpies had to admit Luton Town's 1-0 advantage. The successive defeat made Newcastle stuck in ninth place with 29 points.

In that duel, Liverpool started the new year with brilliant achievements. Appearing as the host, Liverpool fully mastered the game.

Even Liverpool's 63% possession shows dominance over Newcastle. However, Liverpool had to work hard to break into the opponent's goal.

Liverpool actually opened the scoring through Luis Diaz's goal in the 19th minute. He had time to celebrate before the referee's assistant raised the flag stating that the Colombian national team player was offside.

The referee's assistant's decision was upheld through VAR. Referee Anthony Taylor also canceled the goal.

Only a few minutes later, Diaz returned to play when Liverpool were awarded a penalty. He was handed down by goalkeeper Martin Dubravka so the referee pointed to the spot in the 22nd minute.

However, Salah, who became the executor, failed to complete it. Duibravka could thwart Salah's execution so that the score remained 0-0.

The match became even more interesting even though Liverpool controlled the game. But that doesn't mean Newcastle never put the hosts' goal at risk.

In the 38th minute, Newcastle striker Alexander Isak broke into Liverpool's goal. It's just that his goal was disallowed after being reviewed via VAR. Isak was declared offside. The score did not change until the first 45 minutes ended.

In the second half, Liverpool showed aggressiveness in suppressing the visitors' defense. This time, The Pool's efforts were not in vain. Salah paid for his mistake by breaking into Newcastle's goal when the game had only been running for four minutes.

The goal started with Diaz's collaboration with Darwin Nunez which ended with the Uruguay national team striker's cross in front of the goal. Salah welcomed the assist and finished it as a goal.

Newcastle quickly got up after missing the goal. In the 54th minute, Isak successfully beat goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

Starting from the penetration of winger Anthony Gordon on the left. He had passed Ibrahima Konate and Virgil Van Dijk before releasing the bait Isak finished. The score changed to 1-1.

Liverpool put pressure on the visitors again. However, Jurgen Klopp's troops had to wait until the 74th minute to return to the lead. This time, midfielder Curtis Jones welcomed Diogo Jota's assist.

At 2-1, Liverpol continued to attack. The advantage of possession makes The Kop quite easy to suppress the Newcastle defense.

The result, four minutes later, Salah made an assist that was well completed by Cody Gakpo. Liverpool can also breathe a sigh of relief because they have led 3-1.

But Newcastle refused to give up. The match got hotter after their attack began to threaten Liverpool's defense.

Eddie Howe's team's efforts were not in vain. This time it was thanks Botman who welcomed Sean Longstaff's assist who successfully hit Alisson's goal in the 82nd minute.

However, Newcastle's hopes of equalizing the score failed. Goalkeeper Dubravka made a mistake by bringing down Jota in 86 minutes. The referee gave Dubravka a yellow card. However, the referee continued to review the incident via VAR. As a result, Taylor pointed to the spot. Salah made no mistake and completed the penalty execution.

He scored a brace and at the same time gave Liverpool a 4-2 lead. The score did not change until the end of the match.