Liverpool opened up a three-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with an enthralling 4-2 win over Newcastle United at Anfield.
After a goalless opening 45 minutes in which Jurgen Klopp's side wasted countless chances, Africa Cup of Nations-bound Mohamed Salah - who missed a penalty in the first half - signed off with a brace alongside strikes from Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo, rendering Alexander Isak and Sven Botman's responses meaningless for a spirited Magpies crop.
All of Dominik Szoboszlai, Jones, Luis Diaz and Ibrahima Konate forced their way back into the Liverpool XI, while a ravaged Newcastle had to make do without both of Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson; the former's place was filled by Tino Livramento.
The Magpies unsurprisingly came under siege straight away, and it took a smart reaction save from Martin Dubravka to keep out Darwin Nunez's first-time strike in the 12th minute, before Fabian Schar denied Jones on the follow-up.
Jones and Nunez were at the heart of another slick attacking sequence in the 18th minute, as the former sent his Uruguayan teammate through with a sumptuous through ball, and even though Nunez was closed down by Dan Burn, Diaz was well-positioned to fire home into the side of the net.
© Reuters
However, Nunez had just gone a fraction too early, and a VAR review confirmed that the linesman's on-field decision was the correct one, but Newcastle then fell foul of the rule book themselves just two moments later.
A rampant Liverpool came forward again, and the lively Diaz was scythed down by Botman, forcing Anthony Taylor to point to the spot. Salah let out a deep breath and went for power, but his central strike was punched back out by Dubravka, who then witnessed Trent Alexander-Arnold mishit the follow-up over the top.
Wastefulness remained the theme for the Reds after those two squandered golden openings, as Dubravka denied Nunez twice in quick succession in the 36th minute - one of which saw the South American shoot straight at the Newcastle number two - one moment before a Burn header was also disallowed for offside.
How the first half remained goalless after 35 minutes was anybody's guess, and Alexander-Arnold tried to rectify that with a Roberto Carlos-esque swerving volley from right on the byline, but the right-back's outrageous strike rattled the woodwork and bounced to safety.
Liverpool's 18 shots was the second-most they have ever had without scoring in the first half of a Premier League game - the Reds fired 20 without success against Leicester City in 2015 - but only four minutes after the restart, their attacking misdemeanours were forgiven.
© Reuters
With Burn out of position, Nunez was in acres of space in the right-hand side of the box to receive a Diaz pass, and instead of going for goal himself, the Uruguayan smartly squared for Salah, who gave the Reds a belated lead with a simple tap-in and his 150th Premier League goal for Liverpool.
The roles were very nearly reversed in the 52nd minute as Salah set up Nunez for a glorious close-range chance, but the striker added to his catalogue of horror misses with a shot straight at Dubravka, and that blunder would be punished.
Just two minutes after Dubravka's latest vital save, Anthony Gordon left Alexander-Arnold and Szoboszlai for dead on the left before playing in Isak, who had kept himself onside and curled a first-time strike into the bottom corner to miraculously draw the Magpies level.
Isak's bolt from the blue stunned the Kop into silence, and the profligate Nunez still could not find the target even with the added incentive of restoring Liverpool's lead, heading wide in the 64th minute before being sacrificed as Klopp rang the changes.
A 69th-minute Liverpool corner fell kindly for one of those substitutes - Gakpo - and while his laces shot was straight into the body of Dubravka, there was nothing the Slovakian could do in the 74th minute as Klopp's men finally made another slick passing sequence count.
Once again, Liverpool found success on the right flank, as Salah's cute pass found the unchecked run of Diogo Jota, who unselfishly teed up Jones for the easiest goal he will ever score inside the six-yard box.
© Reuters
After struggling to penetrate the black and white backline consistently, Liverpool needed just another four minutes to seemingly put the game to bed, as Gakpo mishit his close-range shot from an outside-of-the-foot Salah cross, but with Dubravka already helpless on the ground, the ball bounced into the net.
The road to victory would ostensibly not be so simple for Liverpool, though, as with 81 minutes played, Botman towered over Jota to head in a Sean Longstaff corner and cut the deficit back down to one.
However, another three minutes passed before Jota won his side a penalty - going down late after feeling contact from Dubravka - and Salah made amends for his earlier spot-kick error, sending Dubravka the wrong way to settle a chaotic contest.
Moving onto 45 points from their opening 20 fixtures, the Merseyside giants are now three clear of Aston Villa and five better off than Manchester City - who have a game in hand - while Eddie Howe's men remain ninth, 11 points off the top four.
FA Cup duties now take precedence for both sides, as Liverpool travel to Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, one day after Newcastle visit Tyne-Wear rivals Sunderland for a tasty third-round tie.
Ben Knapton
