Newcastle United 1-1 Liverpool – A draw to be proud of

The Reds were on the front foot immediately. Sadio Mane hammered a shot wide after some good work down the right by Mo Salah, before a corner kick caused chaos in the Newcastle box, resulting in former Magpie Gini Wijnaldum hitting the frame of the goal.

Jonjo Shelvey looked the best of Newcastle in the first-half. The midfielder had a couple of long-range efforts at goal, but none could beat the goalkeeper.

DeAndre Yedlin, who had a fantastic showing, did very well on the line to deny Jurgen Klopp’s side once more.

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Liverpool were the ones to strike first when Philippe Coutinho cut inside from the left flank and thundered a shot into the top left hand corner of the goal. A truly outstanding finish yet again from the Brazilian.

The Magpies were not behind for too long though, after they grabbed their equaliser through Joselu, courtesy of a huge stroke of luck. With the Spaniard homing in on goal, Joel Matip made a challenge and inadvertently hit the ball off of Josselu, which then forced it into the net, past Simon Mignolet.

There was an early scare for Newcastle in the second half. Ciaran Clark completely missed the ball, which ultimately provided Daniel Sturridge with a one-on-one, but he could not beat Elliot. Mo Salah then blasted his rebound high over the bar.

Liverpool continued to press, but carved out little clear-cut chances. Daniel Sturridge attempted a spectacular overhead kick from the edge of the box, but it sailed wide of Rob Elliot’s left-hand post.

There was a brief moment of controversy midway through the second half when England U-21 international Joe Gomez went in very high on Christian Atsu. The Ghanian was clearly rocked by the challenge, but after a short discussion with his assistant, the referee only awarded a yellow card.

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The visitors remained the most likely to score. They had another half chance when Dominic Solanke got on the end of a cross, but failed to guide a difficult header on target.

The game did die down in the later stages, but it was actually Newcastle who had the best chance to grab a winner.

First, Ayoze Perez caught Mignolet off of his line, but his attempted lob didn’t really come off. Then, at the death, Mo Diame almost benefitted from a goalmouth scramble to prod the ball home, but Dejan Lovren did brilliantly to block the Senegalese man.

A draw makes it 10/21 for Newcastle in their return to the Premier League. A result the majority of fans would have taken before a ball was kicked for sure. A quarter of the way to 40 points already. A team to be proud of.