Liverpool produced a barely believable comeback with only 10 men to secure an improbable 2-1 win over Newcastle at St. James’ Park. Here, we have all the stats from an extraordinary game
Ten-man Liverpool pulled off a sensational comeback win at Newcastle as Darwin Núñez came off the bench to turn the game on its head.
Liverpool played most of what was a tempestuous game a man down after Virgil van Dijk was sent off in the 28th minute after fouling Alexander Isak when he was the last man. That goal came just two minutes after Anthony Gordon had put the home side ahead, but Liverpool battled their way back into the game and ultimately scored the goals that means their unbeaten run against Newcastle remained intact. Following this result, they have won 10 and drawn four of their last 14 games against Newcastle – a run that stretches back to December 2015.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Gordon had set the tone for a feisty first half early on. Just six minutes into the game, the Liverpool right-back was given a yellow card for his reaction to being denied a foul when he had been nudged in the back by Gordon as he chased down a ball that was bouncing out of play. Minutes later, Alexander-Arnold was arguably fortunate not to be sent off having used an arm to prevent Gordon breaking upfield past him.
Those incidents lit the touch paper with the St. James’ Park crowd. In the dugouts Jürgen Klopp and Eddie Howe reacquainted themselves with one another, and right across the pitch the players traded blows. The 16 fouls the first half of this game saw was the second-highest foul tally in a Premier League match this season. Newcastle are the common denominator when it comes to games with lots of fouls: there were 17 in the first half of their 5-1 win over Aston Villa earlier in the campaign.
There was more and bigger drama to come, though, and Alexander-Arnold might have started to wish he had actually been sent off. After taking his eye off a simple Mo Salah pass for a split second, the ball ran underneath his foot and in the blink of an eye, Gordon – who was fast becoming a nemesis of Alexander-Arnold’s – raced through to put the hosts ahead. In the knowledge that they hadn’t lost a single one of the previous 26 home league games under Howe after they had scored the first goal, Newcastle will have started to believe they could end their poor run against Liverpool.
They will have grown in confidence further when Van Dijk was sent off for taking down Isak shortly afterwards. It was his first red card in 164 Premier League appearances for Liverpool.
It meant Liverpool had to make do with playing with 10 men for a second successive week – the first time they have had a red card in back-to-back games in their previous 139 matches.
Liverpool rallied impressively in the second half, though. Klopp made attack-minded substitutions and his team pushed for a way back into the game, but a man down, they spent long periods chasing the ball (33.9% possession in the second half)andgoalscoring opportunities were understandably hard to come by (five second-half shots).
Newcastle looked more likely to score a second and they had chances to kill the game off. Gordon fired an effort straight at Alisson in the Liverpool goal, Miguel Almirón struck the post with a fine curling effort, and when substitutes Harvey Barnes and Callum Wilson raced through, Barnes failed to either shoot or find a pass to his teammate who was screaming for the ball.
They were made to pay for not taking their chances.
Klopp introduced attackers in Diogo Jota, Harvey Elliott and Darwin Núñez as his team searched for an equaliser. After Salah hesitated for too long when he was just yards out and allowed Sven Botman to get back and make a challenge, Liverpool must have assumed their chances of a stealing a point were over.
But Núñez had other ideas. So often wasteful in front of goal – only two players missed more clear-cut chances in the Premier League last season than the Uruguayan (20) – Núñez was in a lethal mood here.
First, he scored a goal that looked like it had rescued a point from the jaws of defeat, finishing expertly across goal after a mistake from Botman, but then in second-half injury time, he ran onto Salah’s through ball to smash home the most improbable of winning goals. His brace ensured Liverpool continued a remarkable run, now unbeaten in their last seven Premier League games when they have received a red card.
Klopp has beaten Howe more times (12) in top-flight league games than he has any other manager in his career, and with this win he set a Premier League record for the most consecutive wins one manager has against a specific opponent, having beaten Howe in 11 consecutive matches.
It was a crazy result on a crazy afternoon at St. James’ Park, and one that will give Liverpool real hope that their new-look team can mount a title challenge this season.
Below is the Opta match centre for the game, which includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own analysis on the game.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Newcastle vs Liverpool Opta Stats
Post-Match
- Darwin Núñez’s 90th-minute winner was the 42nd that Liverpool have scored in the Premier League, the most by any team in the competition’s history.
- Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has now overseen 11 consecutive Premier League wins against Eddie Howe – the longest winning run in the competition by a manager against a specific opposing manager.
- Liverpool haven’t lost any of the last six Premier League games which they’ve been behind in, with Jürgen Klopp’s side coming back to win three of those (D3) – 2-1 v West Ham, 3-1 v Bournemouth and 2-1 v Newcastle.
- This was the first time Newcastle have lost a Premier League home game under Eddie Howe in which they scored first (W17 D5 beforehand), with the Magpies having won 16 of the previous 17 when opening the scoring coming into today.
- Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk was sent off in the Premier League for just the second time in 231 total appearances, while the Reds have had a player sent off in consecutive league games for the first time since March-April 2015 (v Man Utd & Arsenal).
- Darwin Núñez has scored in both of his two appearances for Liverpool at St. James’ Park, netting three goals in total. He has scored six goals as a substitute for Liverpool in all competitions, the most of any player since the start of last season.
- Newcastle named the same starting XI in their opening three games of a Premier League campaign for the first time since 2010-11, and just the fourth time overall (1995-96, 2007-08, 2010-11, 2023-24).
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