The China Mail - Ekitike, Wirtz give Liverpool sight of bright future in Newcastle win

The English champions had slipped to sixth after a run of five league games without a win and fell behind to Anthony Gordon's strike for Newcastle.

But two goals in two minutes from Ekitike completely changed the atmosphere around Anfield just before half-time.

Wirtz continued his fine goalscoring form in the second half before an emotional Ibrahima Konate rounded off the scoring.

Victory lifts Liverpool up to fifth, which will almost certainly be enough for a place in next season's Champions League thanks to the strong performance of English sides in European competitions.

Alexander Isak's absence due to a leg break removed some of the simmering bad blood between the clubs over the Swede's British transfer record move to Anfield in September.

Isak was watching on the from the sidelines and could only glance admiringly towards Ekitike's role in turning the game around.

The Frenchman had been a target for Newcastle as a potential Isak replacement until Liverpool swooped in to secure his signing from Eintracht Frankfurt for £69 million ($95 million).

Ekitike's quickfire double papered over the cracks of another concerning first half performance for Arne Slot.

The Magpies dominated the majority of the opening 45 minutes and deservedly took the lead when Gordon fired in his first Premier League goal from open play for over a year.

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding Liverpool's start 2026, there have been flashes of Ekitike and Wirtz coming good on their huge transfer fees.

The two combined brilliantly to level just five minutes after going behind.

Wirtz waltzed through a pack of Newcastle defenders and squared for Ekitike to prod past Nick Pope.

Moments later, Ektike showed his blistering pace to race onto a long ball from Milos Kerkez and fire into the far corner.

Newcastle remain without a win in their last 30 league trips to Anfield and another damaging defeat on the road sees them slip further off the pace in the battle for a Champions League place next season.

Eddie Howe's men slip to 10th, six points adrift of Liverpool.

Newcastle's exertions in securing a 1-1 draw away to European champions Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, while Liverpool cruised to a 6-0 win over Qarabag at home in the Champions League, showed after the break.

Ekitike missed a glorious chance to secure his first ever hat-trick when he skewed wide with just Pope to beat.

Mohamed Salah was again a shadow of his former self, but the Egyptian did at least play a part in Wirtz's goal which secured a much-needed three points from Slot.

Wirtz had not scored in his first 22 appearance for the Reds after his £100 million move from Bayern Leverkusen.

The 22-year-old now has six goals in the 10 matches after steering Salah's pass into the bottom corner with a sweet strike.

The roles should have been reversed momens later when Salah shot into the side-netting from Wirtz's through ball.

Instead it was Konate who rounded off the scoring in his first match since returning from compassionate leave after the death of his father.

The French international was reduced to tears after pouncing on a Pope error to roll into an unguarded net.

M.Zhou--ThChM