‘I had to step up’

Mohamed Salah scored twice as Liverpool stretched Newcastlersquos miserable run with a 42 victory at Anfield to open up a threepoint lead at the top of the Premier League on MondayJurgen Klopprsquos team should have run out even more convincing winners as Martin Dubravka saved Salahrsquos firsthalf penalty among 10 stops But Salah made amends from the spot after he Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo had netted in the second half to inflict a seventh defeat in eight games on NewcastleLiverpool head into the Premier Leaguersquos winter break five points clear of title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal with Aston Villa posing an unexpected challenge in second placeSpecial night for RedsldquoA special game special nightrdquo said Klopp ldquoIt was a sensational game from my team We started extremely lively Everyone saw Dubravka or we ourselves made sure the score didnrsquot get too clear ldquoSuper game I loved so many aspects of the game bar the goals we concededrdquoJurgen KloppThe Egyptian who was playing in his final game before heading out to the African Cup of Nations has now missed four of his last 10 spotkicks for the RedsldquoI thought lsquoare you going to leave for the national team with that performancersquo rdquo said Salah of his firsthalf displayldquoI just had to really focus step up and make the difference and managed to do sordquoNewcastle by contrast remain down in ninth and 11 points off the top four as the spotlight grows on Eddie HoweThe Magpies have the second worst away record in the Premier League this season with just five points from 10 gamesNo shortage of effortHowersquos men were fortunate not to be blown away by an embarrassing scoreline in stormy conditions at Anfield as Liverpool registered the highest expected goals ever in a Premier League game of 753 ldquoWersquore battling to get our best levels back The effort and determination was there As long as we continue to see that wersquoll be finerdquo said Howe ldquoWersquore missing a lot of players and wersquove had a lot of tough fixtures in a congested DecemberrdquoDubravka has struggled to deputise for the sidelined Nick Pope as Newcastlersquos form has slumped in recent weeks while battling an injury crisis But the Slovakian was in top form as he denied Darwin Nunez on a handful of occasionsKlopp briefly loses wedding ring at AnfieldJurgen Klopprsquos joy at seeing Liverpool secure a big win in the English Premier League turned into dismay when he briefly lost his wedding ring in the postmatch celebrations It needed the sharp eye of a TV cameraperson to locate the ring in the middle of the pitch at Anfield A relieved Klopp responded by kissing the ring in front of the cameras ldquoI had a massive shockrdquo Klopp said ldquobut itrsquos backrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever