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Liverpool late heart break in six-goal thriller; Man City break their slump as maestro returns - PL Wrap

Liverpool made a costly mistake late at Newcastle to drop points, while Manchester City’s midfield maestro returned to snap their losing streak as goals galore were scored in the six mid-week matches.

Dane Heverin and AFP
8 min read
December 5, 2024 - 9:50AM
AFP
Kevin De Bruyne broke Manchester City's funk with a vintage display, while league leaders Liverpool suffered late heartbreak at Newcastle.
Kevin De Bruyne broke Manchester City's funk with a vintage display, while league leaders Liverpool suffered late heartbreak at Newcastle.

League leaders Liverpool played one of the game’s of the season at Newcastle, while Manchester City returned to winning ways as two of England’s biggest clubs locked horns in London in a massive mid-week slate of Premier League matches.

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A 90th minute equaliser from Newcastle’s Fabian Schär ended Liverpool’s seven match winning streak in all competitions, as the Reds’ trip north ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw.

Mohammed Salah continued his rich vein of form as the Egyptian scored twice in the second half to give Liverpool the lead, but goal keeper Caoimhín Kelleher had a moment to forget during a set piece in the dying minutes that pathed the way for Schär’s equaliser.

The Irish shot stopper misjudged the ball, which was whipped in to the box by Bruno Guimarães from a free kick, and let it go over his head, thinking it would sail beyond the touch line, but the Magpies centre back slid in at the back post to squeeze his shot home from an incredibly tight angle.

St James’ Park was sent into raptures by the celebrations but the drama was not over as fans ranged when the full-time whistle was blown after six minutes of stoppage time.

Newcastle was seemingly on the break to create another attacking opportunity, but the game was drawn to a close with both sides have justifiable arguments for who let an additional two points slip, and who snatched a point.

Obviously, the hosts levelled things up at the death, but Liverpool came from behind twice earlier in the night.

Salah was voted player of the match for his performance that jumped him ahead of Manchester City’s Erling Haaland in the golden boot standings with 13 goals so far this campaign, and he has scored nine times in his last seven Premier League outings.

His 68th minute and 83rd minute goals were both assisted by Trent Alexander-Arnold who came off the bench and picked out Salah at the near post for the first before finding the Egyptian in the centre of the box to give him a brace.

Salah assisted Liverpool’s first goal of the game when he delivered a low cross to Curtis Jones who smashed it into the roof of the net in the 50th minute.

Alexander Isak’s first half rocket from outside the box gave Newcastle the early advantage as the Magpies caused Arne Slot’s side headaches with their tenacious high press.

With Alexander-Arnold resting on the bench, and the injured Ibrahima Konate also not on the park, Liverpool looked unusually vulnerable at the back early, an issue vividly illustrated as Jacob Murphy smashed a fierce shot off the far post from an acute angle.

It was a warning Liverpool failed to heed as Isak opened the scoring in the 35th minute.

Surging into Lewis Hall’s pass, Isak took a clever touch that wrong-footed Virgil van Dijk 20 yards from goal, opening space for a blistering strike that flashed into the roof of the net.

Gordon should have doubled Newcastle’s lead after Joe Gomez’s miscued clearance, but the forward’s hesitant shot was straight at Kelleher.

Liverpool were ragged and Slot threw his arms up in frustration after another Gomez mistake allowed Murphy to blast narrowly wide.

Yet in the blink of an eye, Liverpool conjured an equaliser five minutes after half-time.

Anonymous in the first half, Salah burst into life with a superbly measured cross towards Jones, whose run was perfectly timed to meet the Egyptian’s delivery with an emphatic close-range finish.

Newcastle were back in front after 62 minutes as Isak’s deft pass sent Gordon galloping into the area and he cut back inside before planting a composed finished beyond Kelleher from 10 yards.

But Liverpool’s resolve was unshaken, thanks in large part to the presence of the sublime Salah, as well as Slot’s decision to send on Alexander-Arnold.

Dropping points for the first time since a 2-2 draw at Arsenal on October 27, Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table is down to seven points.

After impressive 2-0 wins against Real Madrid and Manchester City last week, Slot’s men were hailed as champions elect in England and leading contenders for the Champions League.

Failing to kill off spirited Newcastle won’t change that status, but Slot will have noted the flaws in his injury-hit defence ahead of Saturday’s Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park.

DE BRUYNE MASTERCLASS GETS MAN CITY BACK TO WINNING WAYS

Manchester City snapped a seven-game winless streak as Kevin De Bruyne played a starring role in a 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.

The Belgian created Bernardo Silva’s opening goal and then scored the second before Jeremy Doku rounded off a much-needed victory for the English champions.

City’s barren run included six defeats to leave them 11 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool before kick-off.

However, De Bruyne’s return to the starting line-up for the first time in nearly three months helped resume normal service at the Etihad Stadium.

City move back into the top four and within nine points of Liverpool after their 3-3 draw at Newcastle.

Pep Guardiola had to shoot down suggestions of a rift with De Bruyne on the eve of the game after bedding him back into action slowly with a series of substitute appearances.

The 33-year-old showed what City have been missing as he rolled back the years and could well have had more than just one goal.

Guardiola reacted to Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Liverpool by making four changes as Josko Gvardiol, Doku and Jack Grealish also came into the team.

It took just eight minutes for City to make the breakthrough. Ilkay Gundogan’s cross was headed back towards goal by De Bruyne and Silva was in the right place to tap home from centimetres out.

Guardiola claimed pre-match that Ederson remains his number one goalkeeper but the Brazilian was again benched in favour of Stefan Ortega.

The German made a big save to deny Morgan Gibbs-White before Forest missed a glorious chance to put the Etihad crowd back on edge.

Chris Wood’s fine goalscoring form has been the catalyst to a fabulous season so far for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men.

But the New Zealander was wayward as he fired wide with just Ortega to beat. De Bruyne settled City nerves on 31 minutes when he collected Doku’s pass inside the area and coolly slotted into the top corner.

Erling Haaland has now failed to find the net in his last three Premier League games.

But the Norwegian did play a part in the third goal with the assist for Doku, who cut inside and fired into the far corner.

De Bruyne saw a free-kick curl just wide and was then denied a second by his international team-mate Matz Sels.

He was given a standing ovation when he departed 15 minutes from time. City spectacularly collapsed from 3-0 up to draw 3-3 against Feyenoord in the Champions League eight days ago.

However, there was never any sense of a repeat as they controlled the closing stages to add a clean sheet to an all-round restorative night for Guardiola’s men.

Defeat leaves Forest still in sixth but now four points off the top four.

ARSENAL CLOSE GAP ON LIVERPOOL

Arsenal worked their set-piece magic to beat Manchester United 2-0 on Wednesday, ending Ruben Amorim’s unbeaten start to life in the Old Trafford hotseat and closing the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool.

United frustrated the home side and kept the crowd quiet at the Emirates in a cagey first half but Jurrien Timber broke the deadlock from a corner after the break and William Saliba repeated the feat.

The win leaves Arsenal in third place in the Premier League, behind Chelsea on goal difference and seven points adrift of leaders Liverpool, who were held to a 3-3 draw at Newcastle.

Amorim made six changes from the team that brushed Everton aside 4-0 at the weekend, dropping in-form Amad Diallo and Marcus Rashford from his starting line-up.

Gabriel was a significant absence from Arsenal’s defence, joining Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori on the injury list.

Amorim travelled to London with two wins and a draw from three matches in all competitions, keenly aware that Arsenal would be his biggest test yet.

The Gunners hogged possession in the opening moments and had the ball in the net in the fourth minute through Gabriel Martinelli, only for it to be ruled out for offside.

Mikel Arteta’s men should have been ahead just minutes later when Thomas Partey skewed his header wide from a corner.

Martinelli flashed just wide from another corner midway through the first half as Arsenal continued to look dangerous from set-pieces.

United were content to bide their time when they had the ball but they looked blunt in attack.

The visitors could have gone in ahead at half-time had Diogo Dalot not steered just wide with a right-footed shot in the 43rd minute.

The two teams, both in goalscoring form, produced a combined five shots in the opening 45 minutes, with none on target.

- Corner routine -

The game picked up tempo at the start of the second half, with Diallo replacing Tyrell Malacia for United.

Feeding off a more vocal crowd, a re-energised Arsenal put United under pressure, finally breaking the deadlock when Timber headed his first goal for the club from a Declan Rice corner.

Amorim reacted quickly, bringing on forwards Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee and handing French teenage defender Leny Yoro his United debut.

Diallo won a free-kick after fine work on the right in the 66th minute and Arsenal were grateful to goalkeeper David Raya, who pushed away a powerful Matthijs de Ligt header from Bruno Fernandes’s free-kick.

Arsenal doubled their lead from a Bukayo Saka corner in the 73rd minute when Partey’s shot hit Saliba and beat Andre Onana.

Arsenal have scored more goals from corners -- 21 -- than any other side in the Premier League since the start of last season.

Onana got down well to save a Kai Havertz shot as Arsenal threatened to cut loose.

United just about managed to keep them out but Amorim will know that he has a big job on his hands.

BIG WINS FOR CHELSEA, EVERTON AND ASTON VILLA

Second-place Chelsea put bottom of the table Southampton to the sword with a 5-1 rout at St Mary’s, while Everton geared up for the weekend’s Merseyside Derby with a 4-0 home thumping of Wolverhampton.

Chelsea looked like they were going to have a battle on their hands when Joe Aribo equalised for the Saints in the 11th minute after Axel Disasi’s seventh minute opener, but it quickly turned into a romp.

The Blues shared the goals around with five individual goal scorers as Disasi (7th minute), Christopher Nkunku (17th minute), Noni Madueke (34th minute), Cole Palmer (76th minute) and Jadon Sancho (87th minute) all got themselves on the score sheet.

Chelsea now sit seven points behind league leaders Liverpool, level with Arsenal but they possess a superior goal difference which benefited from the trip to the south coast, and they have won their last three Premier League matches.

Everton meanwhile picked up a much-needed win to give themselves some breathing distance from the relegation battle.

Ashleigh Young became the fourth oldest goal scorer in Premier League history as the 39-year-old scored with a stunning free kick in the 10th minute to get the ball rolling for the Toffees.

Orel Mangala (33rd minute) and Craig Dawson (49th minute and 72nd) also put the ball into the back of the net to move Everton into 15th place, five points clear of the drop zone.

Wolves languish in 19th with just nine points from 14 games.

Aston Villa kept themselves in touch with the top four with a 3-1 win at home to Brentford.

They scored three times in the first half with Morgan Rogers (21st minute), Ollie Watkins (28th minute, penalty) and Matty Cash (34th minute) doing the damage.

Villa are in seventh on 22 points, four points behind fourth placed Manchester City, after a five-match winless run before Wednesday night’s match.

Originally published as Liverpool late heart break in six-goal thriller; Man City break their slump as maestro returns - PL Wrap

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/liverpool-late-heart-break-in-sixgoal-thriller-man-city-break-their-slump-as-maestro-returns-pl-wrap/news-story/186df2a5ec554aac8bd00551bc06fcc4