A team that played the Liverpool way made Anfield merry in a 2-0 win against Newcastle, but have they won the championship in February?
Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle
Premier League (28) | AnfieldFebruary 26, 2025
Goals: Szoboszlazi 11′, Mac Allister 63′
1. Szoboszlai in the goals at the right time
With Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez having not scored since the middle of January, there needed to be a source of goals other than Mohamed Salah in this Liverpool side.
Dominik Szoboszlai has always looked like the Liverpool midfielder most likely to contribute to goals this season, and in the last two games he has.
Arne Slot’s tactics, which use the third midfielder almost as a second striker, are perfect for a potential goalscoring midfielder.
Szoboszlai has turned that potential into reality at just the right time, and has added productivity in attack to go with his tireless running.
Not quite tireless, as he collapsed to the turf at the end of the Man City game, such was the shift he put in along with his goal and assist, but he was ready to go again against Newcastle three days later, playing the full 90 minutes.
Alexis Mac Allister chimed in with a goal for good measure — his third league goal of the season and his second in this run of five games.
Handy.
2. Songs from Anfield Road to the Kop
The increased size of the new stand at the Anfield Road end of the ground always had the potential to change the dynamic of the atmosphere, and there was plenty of back and forth between it and the Kop against Newcastle.
The new stand was noticeably involved in this game, bouncing off the Kop with songs and occasionally bouncing back.
This lends itself well to renditions of Liverbird Upon My Chest, which has emerged as an anthem of this season’s league campaign, as it drifts around the ground but mostly between the Kop and Anfield Road.
It made for an all-round atmosphere, not the loudest Anfield has been, but perhaps the most jovial and celebratory.
3. Salah quietly brilliant (again)
There aren’t many Liverpool games these days where Salah isn’t a talking point, but it also feels like he is still underrated beyond Anfield.
This is a Lionel Messi-like season he’s having.
Even in a game like tonight where he was quiet by his own standards, he still registered an assist and perhaps could have had a couple more.
He was winning headed flick-ons for players making runs inside him, and constantly stretching the Newcastle defence.
A couple of outside-the-boot passes from the right were sublime, and he almost laid on a goal for Luis Diaz with one such pass.
If there are individual awards to be won at the end of this season, there should be only one player’s name on them, but as much of his quality is down to his team play as it is individual moments, as shown in this game.
4. “We’re gonna win the league” – in February?
As the news of Arsenal’s draw with Nottingham Forest filtered through, the hope of a league championship only increased.
“Liverpool, top of the league,” echoed around the ground, and it felt like a future prediction as much as a current statement of fact.
The songs were belted out with more confidence and the second goal only added to this feeling of optimism.
The Reds are now 13 points clear of Arsenal (who have a game in hand) with 10 games left to play.
Though Slot was not able to take his place on the touchline, he may have enjoyed experiencing Anfield in this mood from a different perspective.
5. At the end of a run, there’s a golden sky
This run of five games was always going to play a big part in how the run-in looked for Liverpool, and how strong a position they would be going into the final weeks of the season.
Five games in the space of 15 days started with the derby draw against Everton and ended with a win against Newcastle.
Each game brought its own tests, but Liverpool passed them all, even if not always with flying colours.
They emerged from this run with 11 points from a possible 15 and, importantly, without a defeat.
The strength and confidence taken from an unbeaten run cannot be underestimated, as much for its affect on future opponents as on Liverpool themselves.
In that sense, it might have been better drawing a couple than losing one and winning four, even though the latter situation would have brought an extra point.
And at the end of this run there’s a golden sky, or at least a glimpse of silverware on the horizon.
Now the focus can be squarely on PSG with a whole week to prepare.
Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle
