Both of these sides have been bothered by some different issues coming into the New Year's weekend fixtures. Newcastle has seen their once bright start to the season fade away due to injuries and a tough run of games on the schedule. Liverpool has had a tough run of results at Anfield, with match after match ending in a draw. They were looking for all three against Newcastle.
Honestly, if you were to take the way Newcastle played on their own merits, they wouldn't really have had a shot in this one. All the hype coming into the match was about how Liverpool vs. Newcastle always produces goals. Liverpool ended up producing all the goals.
They even managed to score on their own net, which meant that the best Newcastle offense was provided by Liverpool. In the 25th minute, Newcastle sent a ball into the box that ended up deflecting off of Daniel Agger and into the net to make it 0-1 to the Toon.
However, the Reds wouldn't struggle like that again in this one. It took theme less than 5 minutes to equalize. In the 29th minute, Craig Bellamy, starting for the suspended Luis Suarez, belted a ball past Krul into the Newcastle goal to tie it up at 1-1. That would be the half time score.
Liverpool continued to control proceedings in the second half, and Newcastle really didn't have much for them. In the 68th minute Bellamy again proved to be a thorn in Newcastle's side as he knocked in a gorgeous free kick to make it 2-1. Finally in the 78th minute, Steven Gerrard, who had checked in as a sub, finished the game off with a nifty tight angle goal to the Newcastle far post which made the full time score 3-1.
All in all a great result for the Reds, who will be looking to guys like Bellamy and Gerrard with the upcoming probable suspension of Luis Suarez. Combine that with so many other teams dropping points this weekend, and might end up being a big day as they try to push for at least a Champions League spot.
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