Newcastle 0-1 Liverpool: Keita fires Reds ahead of Man City again

Naby Keita scored the crucial goal that helped Liverpool to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Newcastle United in their Premier League clash at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon.

The win took them two points ahead of Manchester City, who play away at Elland Road, against Leeds United at 5:30 p.m.

Jurgen Klopp made five changes following Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Villarreal in the Champions League with Mohamed Salah, Thiago Alcantara, and Trent Alexander-Arnold sent to the bench.

There was a huge relief for the Liverpool faithful when Keita drilled home what turned out to be the winning goal in the 19th minute after some controversy that was quickly cleared by a VAR check.

Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka with a series of saves kept his side in the game but Liverpool saw out the victory to move two points above City ahead of the reigning champions’ trip to Leeds United.

Keita’s winning goal came after he exchanged passes with Diogo Jota and rounded Dubravka, though television replays suggested the goal was contentious and may have been chalked off for a James Milner foul on Fabian Schar.

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On the other end, Newcastle had a Miguel Almiron goal rightly disallowed for offside and otherwise struggled to create decent openings for an equaliser.

Going into Saturday’s tie, many had feared Newcastle may throw the spanner in the wheel of Liverpool’s push for an unprecedented quadruple.

But while the Magpies had won four games in a row heading into this contest, they did appear much as a threat to Klopp’s men as Liverpool picked up a 13th league victory in their past 14 outings.

The Reds are now unbeaten in 15 Premier League games in 2022, winning 13 of those and keeping 11 clean sheets, with this latest win moving them back momentarily above City who are in action later today.