(Football news) Despite Newcastle’s dominance after kick off, it was Liverpool who scored two quick goals through Darwin Nunez (10) and Cody Gakpo (17) against the run of play. The Magpies were then reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Nick Pope was sent off for denying the hosts an opportunity to score the third with a handball outside his box in the 22nd minute.

This means that he will not be available for the match against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup final next Sunday and with Martin Dubravka ineligible to play, third choice goalkeeper Loris Karius will be playing at Wembley. Despite their disadvantage, Newcastle continued to threaten Liverpool with Allan Saint-Maximin’s left-foot strike being denied by Allison before Dan Burn and Fabian Schar missed opportunities from set-pieces on either side of the break.

The game began with a minute’s applause for former Newcastle United player Christian Atsu who was found dead under the rubble of his home following the devastating earthquake in Turkey. The result means that Liverpool have now won both home and away against Newcastle this season and are the only team to have defeated them in the Premier League this season.

Speaking after the match, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said “Massive result, clean sheet, two wonderful goals and space for improvement. I thought we did really well – the red card probably would have been a wonderful goal as well if Pope hadn’t got his hand on the ball. Against 10 men we didn’t react particularly well. Newcastle had nothing to lose anymore. You could see they’re a top team with top character – they threw everything on the pitch. And we gave them too many set pieces.

“The most negative thing was that Darwin [Nunez] had to go off. We have to see how serious that is – hopefully not too much. We have to fight through these things. A third goal would have been extremely helpful, but we had to fight until the end. The relief of the 2-0, the red card, and all of a sudden one step less and the rhythm was gone.

“I wish we’d have done that better, but in the end I’m really happy we got it over the line. Diogo [Jota] could have scored. Bobby [Firmino] started really well and then lost two or three balls that pretty much gave them counter-attacks. Getting through this is the next step for them. Virgil [van Dijk], playing 90 minutes was hard for him. All the rest was really good.”

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said “A lot happened in the game, a good start from us and we had the first chance in the game. We conceded two goals which is unlike us. I was disappointed with the goals, I thought we need to look back at them. Against these sorts of teams that’s the last thing you want to see especially with the scoreline. I feel really sorry for Nick [Pope]. It’s a very difficult one, he’s come out and slightly misjudged the ball, I suppose technically it is a handball, I don’t know the rules on the red card.

“I thought it was on the angle with defenders retreating to our goal but that was given. I thought the reaction to that sending off was brilliant from the team. I thought we stayed in the game and were competitive, we created chances and I felt if we could get the next goal we had a route back into the game but that never happened. I’ve had spells like this in my managerial career where you create chances and the goals don’t come. But I back the players to come out of it, we’ve got too much quality not to.”

Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin said “It’s a very bad day. I feel sad for Nick Pope because he tried to help the team. It’s a bad red card for the team because he won’t be able to play the [Carabao] Cup final. He helped us to be in that situation, so we need to support him and get behind him as a team. I think we played very well.

“We had the first chance with Miggy [Almiron] and after that they scored straight away. It was painful, but we just kept going to try to create more chances. Even with 10 men, we kept playing very well. We still had many chances, so I think it’s very positive to see how we can play with 10 men.

“Even though Liverpool aren’t in the top positions at the moment, they’re still a great team. They showed that today. I think we need to be focused for the cup game, but I’m very disappointed about this game. It’s always important to win before an important game. T

“he real positive is that even with 10 men – they’re still playing in the Champions League – we played very well and created so many chances to come back. We can be very proud of that, because I know many teams in that situation wouldn’t create the chances we created. I’m sure we can cause Manchester United a lot of problems.”

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