Darwin Nunez came off the bench to turn the game on its head and claim a 2-1 Premier League win at Newcastle for 10-man Liverpool last night.
Newcastle came out firing from the first whistle at St James’ Park and had clearly targeted Reds rightback Trent Alexander-Arnold, with the Liverpool vice captain escaping a second yellow after just seven minutes in his battle with Anthony Gordon.
And the hosts got the opener after 25 minutes down that flank when Alexander-Arnold took a bad touch from a Mo Salah pass.
Full-time.#NEWLIV // #NUFC pic.twitter.com/qonHEVVVaI
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) August 27, 2023
Gordon pounced and raced in behind to fire through Reds goalkeeper Alisson’s legs – 1-0.
With the Magpies flying, dinge got worse for the Reds in the 28th when Virgil van Dijk was shown a controversial red card.
Gordon continued to terrorise Alexander-Arnold, cutting inside and playing a throughball for Alexander Isak, and Van Dijk mistimed his tackle, taking out the striker’s right leg.
Just WOW, @Alissonbecker 👏 pic.twitter.com/YpNFEVk5pD
Six minutes later, Alisson made a brilliant save to keep the Reds in the game, tipping Miguel Almiron’s volley onto the crossbar and slapping the rebound away.
Newcastle came close to doubling their lead in the 75th minute when Almiron cut in off his right wing and fired a left-foot strike off the upright as they looked to seal the points.
What a finish! 🤩
A superb equaliser celebrated in style by Darwin... #NEWLIV pic.twitter.com/zd7JIfI444
But the Reds had the final say, when substitute Nunez cashed in on a Dan Burn mistake and thrashed a vicious shot home in the 81st minute and then klapped an almost identical goal for a mal winner in the third minute of injury time.
TEAM P W D L F A Pts
1 Man City 3 3 0 0 6 1 9
2 West Ham 3 2 1 0 7 3 7
3 Tottenham 3 2 1 0 6 2 7
4 Liverpool 3 2 1 0 6 3 7
5 Arsenal 3 2 1 0 5 3 7
6 Brighton 3 2 0 1 9 5 6
7 Aston Villa 3 2 0 1 8 6 6
8 Man United 3 2 0 1 4 4 6
9 Brentford 3 1 2 0 6 3 5
10 Chelsea 3 1 1 1 5 4 4
11 C. Palace 3 1 1 1 2 2 4
12 Fulham 3 1 1 1 3 5 4
13 Newcastle 3 1 0 2 6 4 3
14 Forest 3 1 0 2 5 6 3
15 Wolves 3 1 0 2 2 5 3
16 B’mouth 3 0 1 2 2 6 1
17 Sheff. United 3 0 0 3 2 5 0
18 Burnley 2 0 0 2 1 6 0
19 Luton 2 0 0 2 1 7 0
20 Everton 3 0 0 3 0 6 0
dailyvoice@inl.co.za