Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Newcastle vs Liverpool at St James’ Park. The last few days have seen the actual football overshadowed by a string of Covid-19 stories as Premier League positive tests arrive alarmingly regularly while infection rates soar in the UK. This evening’s earlier kick-off between Fulham and Spurs was the second of the midweek fixtures to be called off… but more on that later. First up it’s team news time.
Premier League / Matchday 16
St James' Park / 30.12.2020
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Updated 30/12/2020 at 21:56 GMT
- All
- Highlights
21:55
So Liverpool fittingly end the year top of the Premier League, but back-to-back draws was not the way that Jurgen Klopp would have expected to depart 2020. Steve Bruce will hope that this performance (which moves Newcastle eight points clear of the bottom three) earns him a little bit of love from the fans after the recent tricky spell. Catch you all again in January, look after yourselves and Happy New Year.
End of 2nd Half
FT
It’s all over at St James’ and Newcastle have held on for a super point. Hats off to them, they were excellent in the first-half and produced a brave rear-guard effort in the second half, with goalkeeper Karl Darlow making a string of superb saves.
92'
Liverpool make their final change of the night, introducing Shaqiri for Salah.
90'
There will be four minutes of added time at the end of this game. Enough for a winner?
89'
How did that not go in?! Darlow makes a stunning save from a Liverpool corner and then gets quickly back on his feet to help clear the danger. The save was even more impressive because he palmed it away from the waiting Salah.
88'
Newcastle are getting deeper and deeper and you really feel there might be a late winner coming here. It’s all Liverpool.
85'
Hayden goes into the book for a foul in the centre of the park and that’s his fifth booking of the season so he’ll miss the match with Leicester.
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Yellow card
I. Hayden
Newcastle United
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Yellow Cards1
Fouls2
81'
Darlow saves onto the shin of Mane and the ball loops up to seemingly present a tap-in for the Liverpool forward... only for Schar to steam in from nowhere and clear off the line. That's sensational defending.
81'
OFF THE LINE!
80'
Clark forces Alisson into a decent save from a free-kick as Newcastle get a chance to throw bodies forward. They’ve played well tonight, but attacking opportunities have been drying up a little for the hosts.
79'
Phillips has struggled a little tonight and the defender goes into the book for a tackle so late that even national rail would have been embarrassed by it.
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Yellow card
N. Phillips
Liverpool
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Yellow Cards1
Fouls3
Fouls against1
76'
Liverpool are seeing more and more of the ball here and they are known for a late goal. Can they carve out a winner in the closing quarter of an hour?
74'
There’s a stoppage in play as Schar receives some treatment to a slightly strange injury. He’s getting some magic spray and let’s just say that his shorts aren’t fully up and his left ‘glute’ is getting a bit of attention from the medics.
73'
Liverpool make another change in midfield with the tireless but unthreatening Milner replaced by Thiago.
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On
Thiago
Liverpool
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Off
J. Milner
Liverpool
On target1
Yellow Cards1
Fouls1
Fouls against2
69'
It’s another bad miss for Liverpool as Firmino heads wide from close range with Darlow in no-man’s-land after coming for a corner and getting nowhere near it. That’s a huge chance and the replays only make it look worse.
68'
Liverpool make a change of their own, with Jones going off and Wijnaldum introduced in midfield.
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On
G. Wijnaldum
Liverpool
Off
C. Jones
Liverpool
Fouls1
67'
Newcastle make their first change of the night and it's Almiron who's coming on. That's a statement of intent from Steve Bruce.
On
M. Almirón
Newcastle United
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Off
J. Murphy
Newcastle United
On target1
Wide1
Free Kicks2
65'
That should have been the opener! Salah cuts back inside after being picked out by Firmino, but his shot is wide… in fact it’s really quite wide. That’s a bad miss.
63'
Liverpool enjoy an extended spell of possession in the Newcastle half but it comes to an end with a stray pass from Henderson and Milner sacrifices himself with a tactical foul to half the resulting break and picks up a booking.
Yellow card
J. Milner
Liverpool
On target1
Yellow Cards1
Fouls1
Fouls against2
59'
Newcastle are still playing well here but the game is starting to get a bit stretched and the more open it gets the happier you’d imagine Liverpool will be.