(22 mins Mo Salah penalty saved)

Half time: Liverpool 0 Newcastle 0

49 mins Trent Alexander Arnold played a forward pass from deep in his own box to Darwin Nunez on the Liverpool right, who got ahead of Sven Botman to turn the ball infield to Dominik Szoboszlai. His first touch took him clear of Anthony Gordon and tempted Dan Burn towards him as he advanced.

Playing the ball over halfway to Luis Diaz on the left, he headed infield when nearing the Newcastle area, skipping over Burn's attempted challenge and finding the unattended Nunez on the right hand side of the box. He drilled a low pass across goal for Mo Salah to tuck him from six yards out. 0-1

54 mins Burn's pass down the left touchline was picked up on halfway by Gordon, who easily eluded the half-hearted efforts of Szoboszlai and Alexander Arnold as he sped forward. Threading a precise pass into the path of Alexander Isak in the left channel, the striker took a touch and clipped his shot into the far side of the Kop End goal as Virgil van Dijk caught up with him. 1-1

74 mins A similar finish to the Liverpool opener saw Curtis Jones net after Salah raced in from the right and slipped a pass to Jota, who turned the ball across goal. 1-2

78 mins Salah again got the better of Burn on the Liverpool right and centred for an offside-looking Cody Gakpo to almost apologetically net with a mishit shot from inside the six yard box. 1-3

81 mins Tino Livarmento's pass to Sean Longstaff on the right hand side of the Liverpool area saw him turn and try a cross that van Dijk blocked for a corner. Longstaff took that and Sven Botman soared above the grounded Diogo Jota and plant a header into the far side of the net. 2-3

86 mins Mac Allister's ball from inside his own half bisected Jamaal Lascelles and Fabian Schar and gave Jota a free run into the box. Taking the ball round Dubravka, the substitute opted to throw himself over in an exaggerated gesture to win a penalty rather than score; VAR improbably agreeing.

This time Salah placed his spot kick to Dubravka's right as the 'keeper went left - as he had in the first half. His 151st Premier League goal was his eighth against Newcastle - and Dubravka. 2-4

Full time: Liverpool 4 Newcastle 2

Eddie Howe said:

"A lot happened. Action packed game. We're disappointed with the way we defended.

"I didn't think the second one was a penalty. And I did think Sean Longstaff's one before that was.

"It shouldn't be given. Martin (Dubravka) has pulled his hand away. He's had two steps before going down. For me it's not a penalty. Even the first one the contact was so minimal. We feel hard done by.

"We’re disappointed with the way we defended, especially the last two goals and the build up to them, but I didn’t think the second one was a penalty and I thought Sean Longstaff’s one was, just before that incident.

"You have to have the mindset that you’ve got to create your luck yourself. Feeling hard done-by or feeling negative emotions or sorry for yourself never has any positive outcomes, so we’ll look at ourselves as well and what we can improve. 

"It wasn’t a perfect performance for us. I thought the lads gave everything. Physically we committed to the game and Liverpool played very well.

"I don't necessarily think we were open. It doesn't help when you concede two penalties, the xG of the penalties itself is huge, two penalties one that I didn't think was and the other was very soft.

"Of course there are other moments where we didn't defend well enough. They had a lot of long shots as well. It's difficult for me to comment now, I'd have to watch it back, but they are a team who examine you in every way. You know you're going to come under pressure and will concede chances, but I need to reflect on those moments.

"There's more to it because people will naturally look at the goalkeeper and the back four but it's the whole team functioning well and I don't want to sit and make excuses because you'll be tired of writing it but we do have half our team out and that's the reality That will make a difference. Today, how many attacking players could I change in running? It's a difficult situation.

"I don't think we were as good as we wanted to be with the ball. We gave the ball away under pressure too much and the times we were good enough to play around their press we did give them problems. 

"We scored two goals at one of the toughest places to play in the Premier League, we'd have taken that before the game. Our defensive performance needed to be better to win the game.

"We have to do everything we can to protect that confidence so that is why I think we need not to over dramatise things. It was a really good performance from Liverpool, they made it very difficult for us - we did well to come in 0-0. 

"I can always see the light at the end of the tunnel as long as the players give me everything they’ve got because I know we’ve got the quality. But we had a lot of quality that was not here today.”

On absent duo Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier:

"In the last game (versus Nottingham Forest) they both picked up injuries. I don't think they're too serious. Our schedule was that we were playing every three days; it was a really difficult month and we've had to protect the players that we've got."

Klopp:

"It was a sensational game from my team. We started extremely lively. Everyone saw Dubravka or we ourselves made sure the score didn't get too clear.

"I loved so many aspects bar the goals we conceded. Unbelievable game. Unbelievable atmosphere. Counter-pressing-wise it was for football schools. They have to watch that, take it and keep it. It was everything good.

"Mo (Salah) is a goalscoring machine. It would have helped if he’d scored the first pen but he will never stop doing these things. He is extremely special. Darwin had a couple of chances too. A long wait for VAR, all tight decisions. But a special game, a special night.

"The show must go on. We now have five or six days so three training days. It will change the world from a freshness point of view. Dominik Szoboszlai with a hamstring, we hope not too serious. Other players felt it as well. It’s super intense. But there’s no alternative if you want to win football games.

"Darwin (Nunez)? I don’t really know what you are talking about. Of course he is not happy that he is not scoring. He was on the bench, involved. Nail-biting. The boys have to do a lot of stuff. 

"It was the right decision to bring Darwin today because he kept (Sven) Botman and (Fabian) Schar together, allowed us to do things elsewhere. If we hadn’t used him they might have got forward. We needed him. Darwin will score. 

"The only problem: if the public wouldn’t watch us it would be all fine. He is all good. Social media, questions, that disturbs slightly. But we get that, nobody has to worry about Darwin. He decided the game with an incredible unselfish pass to Mo.”

That latter pantomime included five of the six goals scored, two more disallowed (one each side) and two penalty awards to the home side that didn't bear closer scrutiny but were upheld regardless. A third spot kick shout involving Sean Longstaff just looked to be completely ignored.

The net effect was to leave Newcastle questioning the manner of their latest Anfield defeat, if not the perennially pointless outcome for the club here. Successive managers, squads and even owners don't seem to be able to shake off the feeling that we're beaten before kick-off.  

That conviction was hardly challenged by the most one-sided of opening spells that saw the hosts starve Newcastle of possession. An 18th minute Luis Diaz shot was rightly ruled out for offside before Sven Botman was penalised for catching the same player. VAR confirmed minimal contact in the latter scenario (although no VAR check was advised), but the player's delayed dive deemed irrelevant.

Despite Salah's documented inconsistency from 12 yards, Martin Dubravka's display in the Chelsea Carabao Cup defeat gave little cause for optimism. However the goalkeeper made a decent block -  - proof perhaps of sharper reactions after eight successive starts plus a boost in confidence further evidenced by a series of stops to prevent what could have been a landslide.

United made it to the break goalless after surviving some concerted pressure; Trent Alexander-Arnold slicing the penalty rebound over the bar and then hitting the goal frame with a swerving cross from the byline soon after. At the other end, Alexander Isak was judged to have been offside during the move that led to Lewis Miley crossing from the right for Dan Burn to head in after a rare attack.

The first of six second half goals came in the 49th minute and Liverpool cut through our defence with alarming ease, Diaz playing in Darwin Nunez who crossed for Salah to tap home.

But just five minutes later United equalised when Isak raced onto Anthony Gordon's pass and finished superbly in front of the Kop in a manner reminiscent of the goal he was denied here last season by a hand-drawn sharpie line on a screen. 

For the next 20 minutes the game was in the balance as Dubravka kept the Reds at bay and Klopp was forced into a treble change amid some audible discontent from home supporters. 

One of those replacements - Diogo Jota - teed up Curtis Jones to tuck the ball home and restore Liverpool's lead, but the string-pulling was clearly coming from Salah in what was his final game before heading off to the African Nations Cup.

Four minutes later the Egyptian crossed for another substitute, Cody Gakpo to bundle the ball in - VAR decided that there was no offside without the use of lines and an inconclusive camera angle.

The black and whites weren't finished though and raised hopes of a dramatic late comeback after Botman connected with a Sean Longstaff corner. Another 4-3 defeat had been mentioned and may have been slightly less fanciful had Miggy Almiron pulled the ball across the box at 1-2 rather than trying to decapitate a steward on the back of the Kop.

That hope was extinguished finally though when Salah hit his second of the night to open up a two goal advantage. That followed Jota rounding Dubravka but throwing himself to the ground to gain a penalty that even seasoned Anfield apologists disagreed with.

VAR Stuart Attwell ignored all the evidence presented and confirmed the award, with the slightest of contact - initiated by the Liverpool player - the deciding factor. Dubravka had clearly pulled his arms away and Jota had made his mind up to go over and made sure his foot was touched.

If penalties were being awarded for minimal contact in the box followed by a player making sure they tumbled then why wasn't Longstaff given one at the other end when the score was still 1-1?

Again the Liverpool boss made himself the centre of attention, turning his back on the penalty despite his team being a goal up: presumably for the benefit of his new sponsor, Adidas. For once though the two benches didn't come to blows (our lot are probably too knackered) despite it becoming obvious how evident the Jota penalty award when visiting staff saw the reruns.

A two goal advantage made it eight wins and two draws from ten PL home games this season for Liverpool, who remain unbeaten at Anfield in 22 league outings since October 2022.

Although expected, a fifth defeat in six league games did nothing to dispel the current gloom around Newcastle, providing further fuel for the media-led view that their manager's position is in peril. That latter situation will doubtless be cranked up ahead of Saturday's FA Cup derby game, but at least until the final whistle, it's noise.

For our own part we'll be checking the weather forecast and trusting that the homegrown quota in the Newcastle dressing room don't overdo the Geordie symbolism of the game - Bruno Guimaraes in particular needs no egging on at present; emotion replacing calmness to a worrying degree lately.

To strike a positive note, despite another nil return our post-match outlook here was brighter than beforehand. Had we shown a similar attitude at Luton, we could have taken something from what was a league game with cup tie trappings. 

Howe may not have been known of our poor derby record until enlightened post-draw, but is only too aware that his first two FA Cup campaigns here ended at the hands of EFL sides. The dilemma is what follows the derby - namely league games against Manchester City and Aston Villa - both cause for greater concern to us than the red and whites. 

A lack of meaningful squad choices may actually strengthen our hand against the mackems though; that perceived pressure on Howe meaning that the hybrid line-up of last season against Sheffield Wednesday isn't repeated. At least Isak can get above a mild trot this time....  

Defeat on Saturday (or God forbid, in a replay) would be hurtful, but wouldn't alter our positive view of the manager. How well it would be received in other quarters though is less certain. 

Biffa