Eddie Howe had three strikers sat behind him at Anfield. Two of his personal, signed at nice expense in the summertime however benched in favour of winger Anthony Gordon at centre-forward. Alexander Isak was additionally there, the one he misplaced to Liverpool and who’s at present injured. Nevertheless it was the one in entrance of him, the one he actually needed, who settled this recreation.
‘I’ve tried to signal him twice,’ stated Howe on Friday. ‘He has acquired a little bit of all the pieces. He has nice motion, can rating with each toes and dribbles very well.’
It was by no means his intention, however the Newcastle boss had prophesied what was to comply with. Not that you simply wanted a crystal ball. Not when all that Hugo Ekitike wants is a soccer.
For 3 minutes earlier than half-time, the guests couldn’t stay with him. He scored twice to reverse Gordon’s opener and, in doing so, he nearly as good as killed Newcastle’s spirit and the competition.
When he was later substituted, at 3-1, he fingered the scoreline to the away followers. However maybe their season hinged on the second he confirmed them two fingers in July, when Howe tried to signal him as Isak’s substitute, six weeks earlier than the Swede’s eventual transfer to Liverpool.
Ekitike selected the Premier League champions as an alternative, rejecting Newcastle for the second time in three years. In the long run, Newcastle spent all however £1m of the £125m of Isak’s charge on Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa, the pair who have been omitted right here. As a game-plan, it labored, no less than till Ekitike intervened.
Hugo Ekitike turned the sport round for Liverpool in a sensational efficiency
Ekitike and Florian Wirtz lit up Anfield as Liverpool noticed off Newcastle in a 4-1 win
Eddie Howe’s males began effectively and went forward however quickly relinquished their benefit
‘He’s somebody we’re going to should do actually, very well towards,’ Howe had stated. Properly, they didn’t. The 23-year-old was cruel, his goading of Newcastle’s followers approaching the again of his garrotting of their defenders.
For Arne Slot, this win was his facet’s first from a dropping place this season and first of 2026 within the top-flight.
It was capped by Florian Wirtz’s sixth aim in 10 matches within the second half and a poignant second for stoppage-time scorer Ibrahima Konate, taking part in for the primary time for the reason that dying of his father.
Slot and Howe have shared widespread floor of late – inconsistency of outcomes aside – and that could be a vocal minority of supporters, armed with a keyboard if not a compelling argument, who need change within the dugout.
In Slot’s case, that view lacks appreciation for the triumph of final season and empathy for the trauma of the summer time and the dying of Diogo Jota. He deserves time to course of each feelings and new personnel. This win, and particularly the impression of Ekitike and Wirtz, will assist.
For Howe, there are parallels. His summer time was not marked by tragedy, however he and his staff are nonetheless absorbing the lack of Isak, evidenced by the choice.
The pinnacle coach hinted not too long ago that, after 4 years in cost, possibly some followers have grown bored. It feels as very similar to a cousin of boredom – complacency. The misplaced notion that one other supervisor would all of the sudden resolve the problems that exist in a squad, and season, of transition.
Once more, points all too obvious within the second half as his staff, with two injured gamers on the bench, appeared drained in physique and thoughts.
The Frenchman stabbed house to get the Reds again on phrases after Anthony Gordon’s opener
His second was sharply taken after being given an excessive amount of room to fireplace previous Nick Pope
Wirtz tucked away a aim of his personal to go together with his help in an excellent all-round show
Nonetheless, Newcastle had ventured right here in hope, and that could be a rarity bordering on absurdity given they final gained within the league at Anfield in 1994.
It was a perception fuelled by the power of their 1-1 draw at Paris Saint-Germain in midweek.
But, the selection of Gordon forward of Woltemade and Wissa had the soldiers hammering their keys. With the Scouser at No.9 this season, Newcastle had not gained and had scored simply as soon as from 5 matches. However Gordon was the nuisance he could be because the Magpies refused to let Liverpool breathe throughout a gap of intent and depth.
Harvey Barnes had not lengthy cracked the submit from a free-kick when Newcastle took a deserved lead within the thirty sixth minute.
Gordon, talking in Paris this week, stated he had no reply as to why he had not scored from open play within the Premier League in over a yr. He discovered a response when he drilled low throughout Allison in entrance of The Kop. He had been the sport’s greatest participant. Come half-time, that was Ekitike.
The Frenchman’s first was about intuition, his second opportunism. The equaliser, on 41 minutes, owed a lot to the bustling endeavour of Wirtz, who barged between two defenders earlier than squaring to the six-yard space, the place Ekitike pounced to use a one-touch poke past Nick Pope.
Two minutes later and, with Malick Thiaw inviting him to shoot from what the defender presumed was a slender angle, Ekitike’s RSVP was delivered into the underside nook.
Liverpool’s gamers mobbed Ibrahima Konate after he scored following his father’s dying
Ekitike may have had a hat-trick however fired a one-on-one effort huge of Pope’s submit
From moody groans of irritation, Anfield chorused the title of the participant who had turned the sport. He’s additionally the one, greater than another, who can flip their season.
Mo Salah then teed up Wirtz for a tidy end within the 67th minute earlier than Konate turned in from shut vary.
There have been tears for the defender, and Howe should have felt like shedding one too, given the sooner contribution of the participant he had courted for thus lengthy.
