Five-star Reds hammer Magpies
Steven Gerrard scored a brace and was involved in two other goals
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Sunday, 28, Dec 2008 09:13
Liverpool will finish 2008 at the top of the Premier League after thumping Newcastle United 5-1 at St James' Park.
Steven Gerrard netted twice while Sami Hyypia, Ryan Babel, and substitute Xabi Alonso also netted for the rampant Reds while David Edgar grabbed a consolation for the Magpies.
And Rafael Benitez's men will head into 2009 confident that they will be able to last the distance judging on today's performance.
Despite Robbie Keane and Alonso starting on the bench, the visitors matched their flowing football that saw them tear apart Bolton Wanderers on Boxing Day.
From the first whistle they were dominant with Gerrard being twice denied by fine saves from Shay Given while Hyypia and Lucas both failed to find the target from close range.
Given continued to foil the Reds with a point-blank save to beat away Lucas' header while Hyypia's header was hacked off the line by Charles N'Zogbia.
The deadlock was broken on the half hour mark when Yossi Benayoun pulled the ball back for Gerrard to fire the ball into the roof of the net.
Six minutes later, the Reds doubled their lead when Hyypia rose highest to nod in Gerrard's corner. Minutes later, the Finn was presented with another chance but his header was kept out by Given.
Despite being outplayed, Joe Kinnear's men gave themselves a lifeline in stoppage time when an unmarked Edgar headed past Pepe Reina to make it 2-1.
But that was the best it got for Newcastle as the visitors continued to carve open their defence with ease in the second half.
A Gerrard corner caused mayhem in the Magpies box on 50 minutes which allowed Babel to poke the ball past Given.
Substitute Geremi came agonisingly close to reducing the deficit with a ferocious free-kick that rattled the crossbar. But Liverpool restored their two-goal cushion on 66 minutes when Lucas' sublime through ball found Gerrard, who lifted the ball over Given for his 14th goal of the season.
The Reds' substitutes helped seal the rout on 77 minutes when David Ngog won a penalty after being brought down by Edgar, with Alonso slotting in the spot-kick to clinch victory and fire a warning to their title rivals.