Key events
70 min: Some space for Salah on the right. He cuts infield and looks for Gakpo at the far stick, but gets the cross all wrong. Goal kick.
68 min: A rare Liverpool attack. Gakpo has the opportunity to feed Kerkez on the underlap, but tries to find Salah at the far stick instead. Livramento ushers the ball out for a goal kick.
67 min: The ten men of Newcastle have enjoyed 90 percent of possession during the last five minutes.
66 min: Tonali’s shoulder continues to trouble him, and he’s forced to make way for Miley. When the game restarts, Schar twists Kerkez inside and out down the right, and fires into the six-yard box. Szoboszlai flips clear just in time, with black and white shirts waiting to prod home.
65 min: Yet another Livramento throw from the left. Schar goes down upon feeling Gakpo’s hand on the back of his shirt. Not enough contact, and play continues.
64 min: … Trippier swings viciously under the Liverpool crossbar. Alisson is forced to paw out, else the ball curl into the net, then punch the dropping ball clear. Liverpool suddenly on the back foot again.
63 min: Livramento flings another long throw into the Liverpool box from the left. Van Dijk is forced to head behind for a corner amid a six-yard-box meleé. And from that corner …
62 min: Wirtz competes for a ball in the midfield with Tonali, his arm clapping the Newcastle man on the ear during the tussle. Tonali goes down and wants punishment, performing the elbow mime, but the referee isn’t buying it. We play on.
60 min: Kerkez takes his time over a throw and earns himself a ticking off from the referee. No yellow card, though. Not yet.
59 min: That’s got St James’ Park going again. The home fans had been quiet since Gordon’s dismissal, but now the pot’s bubbling again. Dreadful defending by Kerkez, who was looking the wrong way and buckled, but what determination from Newcastle’s captain!
GOAL! Newcastle United 1-2 Liverpool (Guimaraes 57)
Livramento throws in long from the left. Gravenberch heads it back to him. Livramento curls it deep for Guimaraes, who overpowers Kerkez and plants a glorious header into the bottom right! Game back on!
55 min: Tonali was grappling with Ekitike then fell awkwardly. He’s OK to continue for now. “Getting back to the sending off, the most baffling aspect of it all for me was that it revealed Virgil van Dijk has personalised shinpads,” notes David Bowen.
54 min: A pause in play so Tonali can get some treatment for a sore left shoulder. He looks in some discomfort.
52 min: Salah, Ekitike and Wirtz nearly open up Newcastle with some intricate triangles down the right. Newcastle just about hold their shape.
50 min: Szoboszlai and Salah combine crisply down the left. The former crosses low; Schar slams clear with red shirts lurking. Newcastle need to clear their heads and quick.
48 min: Newcastle’s heads have gone a wee bit here. Gakpo is clipped from behind by Tonali. Just a free kick, but Tonali tries to engage Ekitike in a shoving match. He calms down quickly enough, which is probably for the best.
47 min: That goal took 23 second-half seconds. Arne Slot wasn’t even out of the tunnel, and missed it. Upon the restart, Konate barges Barnes, who falls to the floor. Guimaraes wants a free kick that he’s not getting, and says too much. Into the book he goes.
GOAL! Newcastle United 0-2 Liverpool (Ekitike 46)
Liverpool immediately come streaming forward. Ekitike powers down the middle, holding off Tonali. He feeds Gakpo to his left. Gakpo’s shot is blocked. Ekitike meets the rebound, takes a touch to the right, swivels, and fires a low drive off the base of the left-hand post and in!
Newcastle United get the second half started. No changes.
Half-time postbag. “I’m finding these RefCam shots slightly nauseating. The wobbly in-your-face shots are a little reminiscent of Peep Show, although Super Hans, Dobby, and of course Alan Johnson are far more-suited to elite-level officiating than most of the current crew” – Paul Griffin
“Watching Liverpool’s early struggles, I decided it was time to break out my lucky Gerrard jersey. Sure enough, they score almost immediately after I put it on, and now Gordon is sent off. You’re welcome, Reds fans!” – Joe Pearson
“Gutted for ex-Evertonian Gordon, he was looking so good. The red is a deserved call” – Mary Waltz
HALF TIME: Newcastle United 0-1 Liverpool
It’s unravelled quickly for Newcastle. The teams depart to frustrated boos, but Anthony Gordon has dumped his team-mates – who had been much the better side for the majority of the half – in a spot of bother.
45 min +4: Gordon was all over Van Dijk’s achilles there, and could have buckled his standing leg too. The referee had no choice. It was a miserable, hot-headed lunge.
RED CARD: Gordon (Newcastle United)
45 min +3: It’s red. It was a terrible challenge. Van Dijk is OK to continue. The defender appears to harbour no ill will to Gordon, and throws a friendly arm across his shoulder and taps him on the back as he departs. Eddie Howe shakes his head sadly as his man disappears down the tunnel.
45 min +2: Gordon is coming in super-hard, and super-late. The referee is about to announce a review.
45 min: Gordon, chasing down from a long way away, comes through the back of Van Dijk’s standing leg as the Liverpool defender attempts a clearance. It’s a very poor mid-air challenge. Studs down the back of the leg. Yellow card. Kerkez goes nose to nose with Gordon, and Guimaraes separates the pair. But VAR asks the referee to have a second look. Gordon could be in trouble here.
44 min: Salah is caught from behind by Burn. It’s a poor lunge. Yellow card.
42 min: Liverpool stream forward, Gakpo cutting in from the left and sending a diagonal towards Salah on the right-hand corner of the Toon box. Salah curls an inviting low ball through the area. Jones, alone ten yards out, can’t connect, and it’s too far in front of Ekitike, rushing in from the other side.
41 min: Wirtz hasn’t got into the game at all. He’s got a bit of space down the left, but not as much time as he thinks, and Trippier comes across to barge him off the ball. Some Premier League acclimatisation may be required here.
39 min: … so having said that, the hosts pick up the speed again, Elanga making good space down the right and crossing long, hopefully for Gordon. Szoboszlai gets in ahead of his man and flashes a header wide left. A corner, from which nothing comes.
38 min: Liverpool suddenly look a little more assured, Newcastle subdued.
37 min: That’s stunned the denizens of St James’ Park, who can’t believe what they’ve just seen. Newcastle have been utterly dominant, but Gordon missed the two chances they made, and Liverpool have hit them with a classic sucker-punch.
GOAL! Newcastle United 0-1 Liverpool (Gravenberch 35)
Well, well, well, wouldn’t you know it? Liverpool take it down a notch with some patient possession. Then Gakpo, on the left, feeds Gravenberch, who takes another step infield. Gravenberch takes a touch to make space to shoot, then rifles a low drive through Guimaraes’ legs, off the base of the left-hand post and in. Pope rooted to the spot! What a finish! What a smash and grab!
33 min: Ekitike clanks a simple pass out for a throw. You can hear the pantomime jeering from where you are, can’t you? “Newcastle are fantastic,” writes Tanay Padhi. “Snappy in midfield, quick in transition, quality balls into the box. I feel like they’re almost a crack outfit, just can’t quite put my finger on what the missing ingredient here is.”
32 min: Tonali blazes past Konate down the middle of the park. That was absurdly easy. He doesn’t quite have the pace to beat Van Dijk as well, so looks for Gordon in the middle. Alisson, wise to the grift, races off his line to smother. Liverpool are clinging on here. They’re being given the proper runaround.
31 min: Van Dijk and Konate exchange a few low-voltage passes at the back, again trying to take some sting out of proceedings. There’s no ball out, though, and it soon ends up in Pope’s hands.