Eddie Howe insisted Newcastle United had delivered their “best performance of the season” as they drew 3-3 with Liverpool at St James’ Park following a 90th-minute equaliser from Fabian Schar.
The hosts twice took the lead and were pegged back before Mohamed Salah put Liverpool ahead in the 83rd minute, only for Schar to pounce at the death to snatch a point.
Newcastle finished proceedings with a superior expected goals (xG) total compared to that of the league leaders, registering 1.72 xG to Liverpool’s 1.44.
It left Howe with a better outlook on his team, who have underperformed so far this season and currently sit 10th in the Premier League.
“I feel positive. I feel really positive. I thought that was a much better performance from us. First-half really good, you know that with the quality that they have from the bench, when Trent [Alexander-Arnold] comes on with his creativity, we’re going to have a potential issue,” Howe told Amazon Prime.
"But our mental quality came to the fore, and we got the equaliser. We had chances to make it 2-0, we scored three goals, looked dynamic and energetic, and played with a lot of quality.
"I am really proud. We went toe-to-toe and matched them, it's our best of the season. Our gameplan was to be ourselves, which is difficult against a team like Liverpool, it's a delicate balance.”
Newcastle first took the lead through Alexander Isak, who also went on to provide the assist for their second goal, coming from Anthony Gordon, in the 62nd minute.
While the Swedish striker endured an inconsistent start to 2024-25, he now leads the club for goals scored in the Premier League this season (five).
His goal on Wednesday means he is the third Newcastle player to score in each of his first two Premier League appearances against the league leaders, after David Edgar in 2008 and Andy Cole in 1993.
Howe was equally complimentary of Isak’s impact, saying: "I thought that was his best performance of the season.
"It was a goal out of nothing for us. This season we've missed those. Those moments of magic can swing games your way.
"Isak was really good tonight, if we get our players firing we are some team."
Alisson 'the best goalkeeper in the world', says Slot
Arne Slot paid tribute to the returning Alisson Becker, describing the Liverpool goalkeeper as the "best in the world" ahead of their clash with Fulham.
The Brazil international returned from injury in midweek, playing the full 90 minutes of the Reds' 1-0 win over Girona in the Champions League.
And Slot hopes he can build on the momentum of keeping a clean sheet, as Premier League leaders Liverpool prepare to return to domestic action after last weekend's Merseyside derby with Everton was postponed due to adverse weather conditions.
"We have an incredible goalkeeper. I said as a joke, maybe the players wanted to see how fit he was to give him so much work [against Girona]," the Reds boss said.
"He showed [on Tuesday] he is probably one of the best, in my opinion, the best goalkeeper in the world.
"Let's hope he can continue to keep bringing these performances and hope he can stay fit."
Fulham are fresh from a credible 1-1 draw with Arsenal last weekend, with the Cottagers now having lost just one of their last seven league games.
"I'm more pleased with the way our players fought [against Arsenal], the commitment, the organisation," head coach Marco Silva said.
"It's always tough when we play against them, but they know it will be tough, too. We create a difficult scenario for them.
"It was a tough week. In eight days, we played Tottenham, Brighton and Arsenal. [The players have] been great. The momentum is here for us, we have to be proud of the season so far."
Silva also heaped praise on Antonee Robinson following his consistent performances at left-back.
"He's been great for us. He's one of the best left-backs in this league," he added.
"It's not just the way he is able to stop players, but the way he is able to help. He's a top player and a great professional. He's a proper athlete and is improving in some defensive positions where we want him to improve.
"He's improving season by season, and week by week. We are really proud to have him with us."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
Salah is level with Erling Haaland as the Premier League's joint-top scorer with 13 league goals. He is also second to Bukayo Saka in the assists table, having provided eight.
The Egyptian has scored at least one goal in each of his last seven Premier League appearances. He has scored 99 home goals in 140 top-flight appearances, and another goal will mean he is the fourth-fastest player to reach 100.
Fulham – Raul Jimenez
Jimenez is level with Alex Iwobi as Fulham's top scorer in the league so far with five goals.
The Mexican has scored 12 goals in his last 21 Premier League starts for Fulham. Of all players with 1,000+ minutes for the club, Jimenez has the best minutes-per-goal ratio (192 minutes per goal).
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool are four points clear at the top of the Premier League, having played a game less than second-placed Chelsea. They are unbeaten in 18 matches across all competitions (won 16, drawn two).
Arne Slot's side have the second-best home record in the Premier League this season, having won six of their seven league games at Anfield (lost one).
They have beaten Fulham in nine of their last 12 league meetings, including in each of their last four showdowns.
Although Fulham drew 1-1 at home to Arsenal last time out, they have now won just one of their last four games in the Premier League.
While they are unbeaten in three away from home (won one, drawn two), Silva's side have managed just two wins from seven league outings on the road this term.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Liverpool – 68.6%
Draw – 17.5%
Fulham – 13.9%
Simeone wary of Champions League challenges despite winning run
Diego Simeone hopes Atletico Madrid can continue their excellent recent form to clinch a top-eight spot in the Champions League, but he remains wary of the challenges ahead.
Atletico won a 10th game in succession as they eased past Slovan Bratislava 3-1 at home on Wednesday, a result that leaves them one point outside the top eight with games against Bayer Leverkusen and RB Salzburg still to come.
It is Atletico's longest winning run in over a decade, since winning 13 in a row between August and October 2012.
"There are two games left, and they are very good teams," Simeone said. "We face Leverkusen, one of the best in the competition, and we will see how far we can go.
"We will give our maximum and see what the sum of our points brings us."
Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann, who scored a double, eased Atletico to victory against Slovan, though Simeone was left to rue a conceded penalty that briefly sent jitters through his side as the visitors made it 2-1.
"The effort was there," he said of Wednesday's performance. "The first half was controlled, with important chances, and then in the second, it was also controlled beyond that penalty.
"The players managed it well, and we won a game in which we cared a lot about the three points."
Atletico have been magnificent on their 10-game winning run, scoring 30 goals in that streak, effectively putting their sluggish start to the campaign behind them.
"It's football and football turns, changes, with moments of difficulty and others that lead you to be very good. We know what we have [in the team], where we are going, and we always try to improve."
Wednesday's match was notable for the fact that at one stage both coaches had their sons on the pitch. Giuliano Simeone started for Atletico, while Slovan coach Vladimir Weiss brought on his son, also Vladimir, for the final six minutes.
"I think that if the coach [Weiss] has chosen to put the player on, he did not think of putting his son on. Like me, neither of us have looked at them as a son, we look at them as footballers," Simeone added.
Among teams who have scored 100+ goals in the Champions League, only Lionel Messi (20.4% for Barcelona) has scored a higher percentage of a club's goals in the competition than Griezmann has for Atletico (19% - 36/189).
All of his Champions League goals for the Rojiblancos have come under Simeone. Only Messi under Pep Guardiola (43) and Mohamed Salah under Jurgen Klopp (41) have scored more goals under the same manager in the competition.
"The Champions League is complicated, goals matter a lot," Griezmann said. "It is a shame about the penalty. In the second half, we let them have the ball a lot. These are things to improve as always, but we are on the right track."
Feyenoord 4-2 Sparta Prague: Quick start eases hosts to win
Two early goals laid the foundation for Feyenoord to boost their Champions League hopes with a comfortable 4-2 win over Sparta Prague on Wednesday.
Two goals in 90 seconds from Gernot Trauner and Igor Paixao gave Feyenoord a dream start, with Anis Hadj Moussa and Santiago Gimenez adding the goals that keep them on course for a spot in the knockout stages.
The Dutch hosts needed only eight minutes to get on the scoresheet from a corner with Trauner's downward header wrong-footed Peter Vindahl.
The second came when Feyenoord's pressing stripped Kaan Kairinen of possession and Paixao ran from the halfway line before bending the ball wide of the goalkeeper.
Hadj Moussa scored a stunner 30 minutes in, cutting inside from the right to fire a left-footed shot into the top corner. Feyenoord then failed to clear a long throw that was flicked onto Albion Rrahmani at the back post to make it 3-1 in the 43rd minute.
Gimenez restored the comfortable margin when he took advantage of a defensive slip to bundle the ball over from close range just after the hour mark, while Sparta's second goal came from a cross in the 79th minute which was steered home by a sliding Thomas Beelen into his own net.
Feyenoord moved on to 10 points, while Slavia suffered a fourth defeat in six group games and have a tough task to avoid elimination.
Data Debrief: A happy reunion
The match saw Brian Priske reunited with the team he took to the double in the Czech Republic last season, with his former assistant Lars Friis now in charge at Sparta.
Only Barcelona (five) have scored three or more goals in more different Champions League games this season than Feyenoord (four), who netted three first-half goals and four goals overall for the first time in the competition.
Having led 2-0 after just 10 minutes, it is the quickest two-goal lead Feyenoord have held in a major European game since September 1972.
Meanwhile, Sparta have failed to win any of their last 15 away games in the Champions League (D3 L12), the joint-longest ongoing such winless streak in the competition (level with AEK Athens, whose last game was in 2018).
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