As dress rehearsals go it could hardly have been worse for Newcastle. Eight days before their long awaited League Cup final date with Manchester United Eddie Howe’s team not merely lost a Premier League game for only the second time this season but had Nick Pope sent off.
Newcastle remain fourth but Liverpool, who beat them at Anfield in August, are now only six points and four places behind with a game in hand. Not that such encouraging statistics necessarily mean Jürgen Klopp’s side are exactly renascent, let alone set to win the race for Champions League qualification.
