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Reds keep pressure on
Match Reports, 16:06, May 3, 2009 ,
Liverpool kept up the pressure on Manchester United at the top of the Premiership following Sunday's 3-0 win over Newcastle.
As for Newcastle they will look ahead to a must-win game next Tuesday against North East rivals Middlesbrough after a disappointing display which saw them comfortably beaten by a rampant Liverpool side who closed the gap on United to three points at the top of the table.
Liverpool could and should have won more comfortably as they wasted several good opportunities as well as hitting the crossbar on three occasions.
After a slow start, Liverpool took the lead on 21 minutes. A mix-up in the Newcastle defence was punished when Kuyt found space to shot from the right hand side of the area. Benayoun pounced at the far post and diverted home off his knee and although there was a suspicion of offside, the home side never looked back as Newcastle fell apart.
You could visibly see the belief drain from the visitors and within 6 minutes they were two down. This time Kuyt was the scorer. Gerrard's corner from the left hand side flashed across the 6-yard box. Kuyt completely lost his marker and headed home bravely from close range.
From there on it was only a case of how many Liverpool would score. Alonso hit the bar with wonderful curling efforts from distance either side of half-time and several chances went begging as Liverpool surged forward time and again.
On 77 minutes it got even worse for Newcastle. Barton flew in recklessly with a terrible looking challenge on Alonso and was shown the red card by referee Phil Dowd.
The challenge in the far corner of the pitch with Alonso going nowhere was symptomatic of the errors in judgement Newcastle consistently made throughout the game and Alan Shearer will have a tough job on his hands to keep this side up with just three league games remaining.
Liverpool wrapped up the scoring with 3 minutes remaining as Aurelio's in-swinging free-kick from the right was headed home from Lucas who found himself completely unmarked 10 yards out.
Gerrard almost made it 4-0 with the final kick of the match when he hit the bar from 25 yards out.
Rafa Benitez will be delighted with the form of his team as they look to keep their slim chances of winning the title alive, but for Shearer the task now looks an uphill one and their whole season now rests on the derby match against Middlesbrough next Monday evening.