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Newcastle United 2 – 3 Liverpool – Premier League Postmortem

With Liverpool looking to maintain their winning start to the 2025/26 season, Arne Slot’s side travelled to a raucous St James’ Park for their toughest test yet. It was an enthralling contest that went beyond the 100th minute, settled by a moment of brilliance from Rio Ngumoa.

The Starting Eleven

Liverpool:

• GK – Alisson Becker

• RB – Dominik Szoboszlai

• CB – Ibrahima Konaté

• CB – Virgil van Dijk (c)

• LB – Milos Kerkez

• CM – Alexis Mac Allister

• CM – Ryan Gravenberch

• CM – Florian Wirtz

• RW – Mohamed Salah

• CF – Hugo Ekitike

• LW – Cody Gakpo

Substitutes:

• Federico Chiesa – Florian Wirtz – 80’

• Conor Bradley – Hugo Ekitike – 80’

• Rio Ngumoa – Cody Gakpo – 90+6’

• Harvey Elliott – Curtis Jones – 90+6’

Goals (Assisted by)

• Newcastle 0 – 1 Liverpool – Ryan Gravenberch (Cody Gakpo) – 40’

• Newcastle 0 – 2 Liverpool – Hugo Ekitike (Cody Gakpo) – 46’

• Newcastle 1 – 2 Liverpool – Bruno Guimarães (Tino Livramento) – 57’

• Newcastle 2 – 2 Liverpool – William Osula – 88’

• Newcastle 2 – 3 Liverpool – Rio Ngumoa (Mohamed Salah) – 90+9’

Red Cards

• Anthony Gordon 45+3’ (Dangerous Play)

Match Statistics

• Possession – NUFC 38% – 62% Liverpool

• XG – NUFC 0.98 – 0.69 Liverpool

• Total Shots – NUFC 10 – 5 Liverpool

• Fouls – NUFC 17 – 15 Liverpool

• Corners – NUFC 7 – 1 Liverpool

• Saves – NUFC 1 – 1 Liverpool

https://twitter.com/anfieldindex/status/1960094323569049787?s=46&t=rxgukmqdoXc4muVFLSx2EQ

First Half

An expectant atmosphere at St James’ Park greeted the champions with hostility, and Newcastle’s early intensity unsettled Liverpool. Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga drove at Milos Kerkez and Dominik Szoboszlai, forcing Alisson into an alert stance needed to keep his goal untested. The physical approach of the hosts rattled the reigning Premier League champions, as a combative style continued to run through an outgunned Liverpool midfield.

Despite being against the wall for much of the half, the deadlock was broken on 40 minutes when Ryan Gravenberch, coming back from suspension, drove home Cody Gakpo’s assist to silence the home crowd. Gordon’s reckless lunge on Virgil van Dijk in stoppage time saw the winger dismissed, leaving Newcastle with a mountain to climb at the break. The score did not favour the team in the ascendancy, however, another half of dramatic football was still to come.

Second Half

Within a minute of the restart, Gakpo turned provider again, nudging a ball into Hugo Ekitike who finished coolly to double the advantage. At that stage, it looked like Liverpool would cruise home and perhaps even enhance their scoreline.

But Newcastle rallied and fed off an angry and frustrated crowd. Bruno Guimarães halved the deficit on 57 minutes with a thumping header as Milos Kerkez failed to cope with the intent of the Brazilian. After that,  wave after wave of pressure tested Konaté and Van Dijk, with the skipper using his unmatched defensive ability to keep his team in the lead. Eventually, the resistance broke as substitute William Osula pounced to level late on, a goal created by a daft high line, uncertainties in Ibou’s marking, before Gravenberch failed to cope with the eventual scorer.

Then came even more drama. With the clock beyond 99 minutes, Mohamed Salah slipped a clever pass through the majestic run and dummy of the man of the match, Dominic Szobozlai. Elite-level awareness allowed the ball to travel perfectly to an already set Rio Ngumoa. The 17-year-old academy prodigy, showed ice-cool composure to score the winner and spark delirium in the away end.

Final Thoughts

Liverpool were far from their fluent best, but in Virgil van Dijk’s commanding leadership and Dominik Szoboszlai’s tireless covering at right-back, the foundations of victory were laid. Gravenberch’s sharpness in front of goal was an encouraging sign, while Ekitike continued his promising start in red.

Above all, this was a statement of character. When the established names faltered, Ngumoa’s emergence proved decisive. Arne Slot’s side remains perfect, their title defence rolling on thanks to resilience, patience, and one unforgettable academy strike. Despite all this, improvements are needed with an altered structure again shipping two goals.

Steven Smith’s Score Prediction:

Newcastle 1 – 2 Liverpool

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