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Liverpool squandered the opportunity to open a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League in the final English top flight match of 2020 after being a goalless draw for Newcastle on Wednesday.
The 0-0 draw at St James’ Park means the champions enter the New Year with a three-point lead over Manchester United, having played one more match.
But they will regret their missed opportunities in a game in which they enjoyed almost three-quarters of possession.
Mohamed Salah, a leader in the Premier League scorers table with 13 goals, missed the goal on either side of halftime with only goalkeeper Karl Darlow to win and his attacking partner Roberto Firmino saw two superbly saved headers.
Three days after humble West Brom snatched a point from him at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’s men, who have now only won two of their eight league away games this season, were frustrated once again, although it took a late clearance of the goal line by Fabian Schar and Darlow. brilliance to keep them at bay.
Klopp lamented the waste of his team in front of the goal.
“You may think I don’t have to take my hat off to my team, but I like the performance,” he told the BBC. “It was really good. Can we play football better? Yes, but in this game we did more than enough to win it.”
“I think we had four 100 percent chances. We’ve won against Newcastle before with fewer chances. Tonight we didn’t, but we took it. I’m happy with the things I saw tonight and I can really work with that.
“The guys are frustrated and rightly so, but not because of the performance. It’s a foundation to build on for the next few days, weeks, months.”
Newcastle, which came into the game without a win in four matches in all competitions, got off to a positive start, with returning striker Callum Wilson nearly catching goalkeeper Alisson Becker with a speculative early shot.
The Reds needed Alisson to be in his prime to deny Wilson once more 10 minutes later, after he had outplayed defender Nathaniel Phillips.
Liverpool should have been ahead 11 minutes before the break when Salah overcame the offside trap to control the ball in front of Darlow’s forward, only to stab his shot off the post, and the goalkeeper produced a good save reaction on injury time to repel. Firmino’s header at point-blank range.
Mane headed into the side net from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 49-minute corner and as Liverpool turned the screw, with Mane performing his full repertoire of tricks, the Magpies’ rearguard came under increasing pressure.
Salah had another chance to break the deadlock midway through the second when he was played by Firmino but, after stabilizing, he directed his effort beyond the post.
Firmino was equally a waste when presented with a glorious opportunity at the far post as Newcastle wielded his luck.
It almost got much better for the Magpies with 11 minutes remaining when Ciaran Clark found Matt Ritchie’s free throw with a downward header that Alisson had to reject.
But Schar cut the ball off his own line ahead of Mane seconds later and Darlow looked brilliantly with another header from Firmino in the death to preserve his clean sheet.
Klopp’s men finish the calendar year with 33 points from 16 games, three ahead of United, who have 30 points after 15 games.
The two teams, with 39 English titles combined between them, will meet on January 17 at Anfield.
