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Still searching for their first league win of 2026, Liverpool hosted Newcastle United at Anfield.
Arne Slot made two changes to the side that thrashed Qarabag in the Champions League, as Ibrahima Konaté and Milos Kerkez replaced Jeremie Frimpong and Andy Robertson.
Eddie Howe made three changes to the team that drew with Paris Saint-Germain, seeing Kieran Trippier, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes come in for Sven Botman, Lewis Miley and Nick Woltemade.
It was a very physical game. Both teams started the match pressing high with man orientations, and, sticking so tight to one another through the middle, this left very little space for players to receive the ball, making it difficult to pass out.
The result was that they instead kicked over the top of this pressure, going long. For Liverpool, these were often aimed towards Cody Gapko, much taller than his marker Trippier, nodding it on for Kerkez running from deep.
There was an exception to this man-marking set-up though: both Liverpool and Newcastle used back fours against three attackers, so there wasn’t enough men to cover every opponent.
For example, at goal kicks Barnes would tuck in next to Gordon, picking up the Liverpool centre-backs, however this would leave Dominik Szoboszlai free on the right, with Lewis Hall reluctant to push all the way forward to pick him up.
At the opposite end, just a minute in, with Mohamed Salah pulled forward onto Dan Burn, Hall was left free on the left. The full-back strode forward with the ball and picked out a pass in behind.
There were also several moments where Gordon dropped off into midfield to receive the ball.
About a quarter of an hour into the game, Newcastle began to drop off into a 4-5-1 rather than always pressing high though. This didn’t keep Newcastle as defensively tight as you might expect, as Liverpool managed to sneak passes through the middle on several occasions, yet it did generally succeed in encouraging Liverpool to pass wide instead.
It was Newcastle that opened the scoring. After defending a Liverpool attack, Anthony Elanga passed back to Burn, and, with Ryan Gravenberch pulled forward to Jacob Ramsey, Joe Willock was left open behind him to receive the ball. This saw Newcastle carry the ball into attack, and although Barnes was tackled, the loose ball fell to Gordon, who fired a finish between Kerkez’s legs into the net.
This lead didn’t last long though. Newcastle went long at a goal kick, yet it was Liverpool that won the ball and sprung forward on the counter while Newcastle had men forward. Newcastle got men back, but the ball eventually fell to Florian Wirtz, who used his close control to push forward into the box, then pull the ball back for Hugo Ekitiké to finish.
Two minutes later, Liverpool had the lead. Catching Newcastle on the counter from a corner, Kerkez kicked long for Ekitiké, putting him two-on-two with Newcastle’s defenders. With Malick Thiaw not giving Ekitiké space to cut inside onto his favoured right foot and open up his hips, the Frenchman instead attacked the near post, then toe-poked the ball into the opposite corner to finish.
In the second half, Newcastle responded by pressing high again, and pushing men forward into attack, often looking to get the ball wide. This left them open to counter-attacks though, with Ekitiké drifting wide to receive long passes and isolate defenders.
It was on the counter that Liverpool added another. Newcastle attempted to play out, yet Gakpo intercepted the pass, and Liverpool quickly burst forward. Wirtz spread the ball wide to Salah, but then waited behind the play as the defenders all ran back. Salah returned the ball to him, and he shot first time to make it 3-1.
Newcastle had to keep committing men forward if they were going to get anything from the game, adding Yoane Wissa and Woltemade to the attack, but this was leaving them open to counters, and so Liverpool continued to look the more dangerous side.
Liverpool would add a fourth from an injury time corner. Nick Pope came and collected the cross, but ran into his own defenders, dropping the ball at the feet of Konaté to finish on his return.
It was enough to confirm what was a convincing victory for Liverpool’s first league win of 2026.
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