Liverpool late winner sinks battling Newcastle to keep relentless title race alive

Divock Origi celebrates Liverpool's late winner and (inset) Mohamed Salah is stretchered off

Divock Origi celebrates Liverpool's late winner and (inset) Mohamed Salah is stretchered off Credit: Getty images

Newcastle United 2 - 3 Liverpool

Referee: Andre Marriner

Venue: St. James' Park

Attendance: 52,206

Goals: Atsu20

Rondón54

van Dijk13

Mohamed Salah28

Origi86

It was the night when Liverpool’s title challenge flickered for what must have seemed like an eternity for Jurgen Klopp and then, with time and options running out, burst back into life in mesmerising fashion with a goal from an understudy thrust centre-stage again.

Step forward Divock Origi: substitute, fourth-choice striker, Merseyside derby match-winner and decisive again, in the 86th minute of a thrilling game. The title race will go into the last weekend of the Premier League season after all, and once again the question is asked of Manchester City, who take on Leicester on Sunday, as to whether they can hold their nerve and go into the final Sunday in pole position.

This was an extraordinary game in which Newcastle came back twice, and one in which Origi was only thrown on because of an injury in the second half to Mohamed Salah, colliding with goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and carried off. That meant there were eight tense minutes of time added on at the end and there were moments when one wondered if this might even emulate the 4-3 classic between the two sides from April 1996, that helped deny Newcastle a Premier League title of their own.

This was Liverpool’s eighth straight Premier League win and while it was not their most composed by a long way, it said a lot about the depth of Klopp’s squad. As the game reached its final stages still level he brought on Xherdan Shaqiri and then James Milner, and it was the little Swiss attacker who struck the free-kick for his fellow substitute Origi to head in with the help of a slight deflection.

It was a fine game between one side with everything on the line and another playing just for the hell of it, as if that were the case. In their last home game of the season, Rafael Benitez’s side reached an unexpected level of intensity, and in this great collision of emotions, the home fans roared their team on.

As for Origi, it is the second time he has made a critical intervention in the season, following his winner against Everton on Dec 2. On that occasion he struck even later in the day and every team with title ambitions needs its heroic occasionals, unleashed periodically to change the course of the season.