Liverpool downed Newcastle in their Carabao Cup final dress rehearsal.
Dominik Szoboszai opened the scoring with 11 minutes on the clock when he swept home from Luis Diaz’s cutback through the legs of two defenders.
The Reds extended their lead midway through the second half as Mohamed Salah teed up Alexis Mac Allister to rifle the ball into the roof of The Kop’s ne
Arne Slot’s side have now moved 13 points clear in the Premier League title race after Arsenal lost further ground with their draw at Nottingham Forest.
Here were the key talking points from Anfield:
Wembley dry run belies reality
For a second season, Liverpool won the Carabao Cup final dress rehearsal.
But a dry run of their Wembley meeting with Newcastle did not offer a true reflection of how things might pan out – last year taught them that much.
The Reds trounced Chelsea on home soil but had to work for an unparalleled tenth League Cup as Virgil van Dijk snatched the spoils deep into extra time.
For different reasons, neither team approached this encounter at the peak of their capabilities, with the visitors denied Alexander Isak through slight injury.
Without the Sweden international at their disposal, the Magpies struggled to land a glove on their hosts in a stark contrast to December’s six-goal thriller.
Arne Slot’s side, meanwhile, were guilty of being sloppy in possession, with first touches and finesse routinely breaking moves down across both halves.
One thing is for certain; both teams will be very different prospects when they venture into the capital for their third and final showdown of the season.
Heitinga flies through first test
The sight of a former Everton stalwart taking charge of his one-time nemeses was probably one thing most diehard Kopites never expected until recently.
Out of necessity rather than choice, however, John Heitinga found himself tasked with holding the fort as a result of Slot’s two-game touchline ban.
Liverpool’s head coach and assistant Sipke Hulshoff had learned of their fates from the Merseyside derby fallout hours prior to the visit of Eddie Howe’s side.
Although widely expected, it threw a curveball to the Premier League leaders’ preparations with their third in command thrust firmly into Anfield’s spotlight.
If Heitinga was apprehensive about temporarily taking the reins, it did not show as he marshalled the technical area with an air of Slot-esque calm.
While his superior tried to contain himself in the Main Stand directors’ box, the former defender was receiving suggestions rather than offering them up.
First-team development coach Aaron Briggs became the conduit for the chain of command between Slot and Hulshoff in the stands and the home dugout.
The pair need not have worried. Heitinga’s crash course in management with Ajax meant he came through the first half of his frontline tests with relative ease,
Anfield fully lets its hair down
Title run-ins have been fraught affairs for Liverpool fans in previous years.
Memories of being pipped at the post by Manchester City in their neck-and-neck battles for supremacy risked leaving lasting psychological scars.
Yet a 13-point lead has instilled a rare bout of euphoria in the Anfield faithful.
The nervousness that underpinned their last home outing against Wolves was a distant memory even before news of Arsenal’s latest stutter filtered through.
An atmosphere free of that anxiety-ridden finale ratcheted up once the result at the City Ground became common knowledge early into the second half.
Chants only became more frequent and vociferous, with The Kop’s full coronation repertoire came out, including several old-school renditions.
Boastful declarations of ‘We’re gonna win the Football League again’ and ‘Hand it over, Manchester’ soon began filtering down to pitch level.
Liverpool coming through their fifth game in a bruising 15-day period has only emboldened supporters to fully let their hair down about the title procession.