On Monday night, the rain came down in stair rods at Anfield. The first Premier League game of the new year became a battle against the weather as the wind blew it in from the Mersey. Mo Salah shown once again that he is a man for all seasons by navigating the flood like it was a pleasant breeze.

Salah, who not only scored twice but also set up one for Cody Gakpo and missed a penalty, was the driving force behind Liverpool’s thrilling 4-2 triumph, which pushed them three points clear of the leaders in the standings. They lead Manchester City and Arsenal by five points.

Although Salah will miss a few Liverpool games this month due to his departure to compete in the Africa Cup of Nations, he left his club and his supporters with a memorable performance. It was only Martin Dubravka’s outstanding effort in goal that prevented this from being a humiliation for Newcastle.

The heat is mounting on Eddie Howe as his team has now dropped seven of its last eight games. The result does not accurately depict Newcastle’s lacklustre performance. Despite all the hoopla about their injuries, they played almost at full strength here and provided very, very little in the way of progression.

The pressure on Howe is expected to mount from Saudi Arabia, the richest football owners in the world, with two league games against Manchester City and Aston Villa coming up after an FA Cup match against rivals Sunderland on Saturday.

Mo Salah was on target twice in his final game before the Africa Cup of Nations begins 

He initially had a penalty saved by Martin Dubravka in a frustrating first half but Liverpool are now three points clear at the top of the Premier League

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Salah opened the scoring in the second half after a brilliant team move on the counter-attack

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Alexander Isak silenced Anfield minutes later with an equaliser against the run of play 

Curtis Jones restored Liverpool’s advantage after 74 minutes as Liverpool dominated the game

A leaping header by Burn was called out for an offside, and ten minutes before halftime, Liverpool lost a fantastic chance to go up when Nunez was let through one-on-one with Dubravka after the latter had shrugged off a cross from Botman.

Nunez attempted to curve his shot around the Newcastle custodian, but Dubravka knocked it away because it was once again too close to him. If Nunez wants to establish himself as a mainstay in this Liverpool squad, his finishing has to get better.

Seven minutes before half-time, Alexander-Arnold sprinted on to a bouncing ball not far from the corner flag on Newcastle’s left flank, and he came dangerously close to scoring what would have been one of the goals of the season.

Using the outside of his right foot, Alexander-Arnold struck it first, causing it to veer dangerously over Dubravka’s head and rocket off the far post. Marco van Basten’s spectacular goal against the Soviet Union in Euro 1988 was achieved with a technique just as sweet.

Sadly for Liverpool supporters, the outcome was different. According to the statistics, Liverpool had 18 shots to Newcastle’s one at halftime. A storm of boos, probably directed at the officials, greeted the whistle.

Three minutes into the half, Liverpool’s play that began on their own goal-line to take the lead took away all of the irritation. On the halfway line, Alexander-Arnold hoisted it forward to Nunez, who first sent it off to Dominik Szoboszlai.

Cody Gakpo doubled the Reds’ advantage as things began to come together late on

Sven Botman gave Newcastle a ray of hope when he headed home their second of the night

Salah made no mistakes with his second penalty as he sent Dubravka the wrong way 

After Diaz cut inside and played the ball across the box to Nunez, Szoboszlai played the ball out to the left. Instead of taking a shot, Nunez crossed the ball over the goal line to Salah, who tapped in from close range. It was his 150th goal for Liverpool in the league.

Liverpool hinted at going all out. Salah curled a cross into the box, and Nunez appeared certain to score, but Dubravka made a fantastic save to deny him. It was one of the greatest nights of the goalkeeper’s career for Newcastle. After a few minutes, he managed to push a sharp drive from Nunez past the bar.

However, Newcastle responded just as it appeared they were about to suffer a disgrace. Back in his hometown of his own city, Anthony Gordon threaded a pass through to Alexander Isak, who outran Virgil van Dijk and fired a crisp shot past Alisson. Klopp laughed on the sidelines, but not in a way that suggested he was amused.

In the 63rd minute, Nunez had another opportunity to score but missed it, sending a header wide. Half a minute later, he was replaced. After a minute, Dubravka denied Salah with yet another fantastic stop.

Dubravka was acting superhuman during the game. After Newcastle barely partially cleared a Liverpool corner, Cody Gakpo, the replacement, was placed 14 yards away. He blasted the shot cleanly and forcefully, but Dubravka made another outstanding save, stooping low to his right to save it. Compared to Newcastle’s three shots, the home team had 28. The Liverpool supporters started to look at the game in a somewhat incredulous way.

Liverpool regained the lead right as the home crowd was about to lose patience. Salah obediently supplied the bit of brilliance that was always needed to crack the unbeatable Newcastle defence.

Eddie Howe’s Newcastle slipped to their seventh defeat in eight games in all competitions