Zonal Marking X – Newcastle Utd. F.C. v Liverpool F.C.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have lifted the Premier League trophy for the first time in over 30 years and have finished the season with a total of 99 points (the second highest from any topflight campaign) after a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United.

Goalkeeper and defence

Going 1-0 down in the opening minute of the game wasn’t an ideal situation for Jurgen Klopp’s men to find themselves in – Alisson might have been able to block the shot from Dwight Gayle and Neco Williams was caught off guard at right back.

Virgil van Dijk’s header sailed into the goal to draw the game level though – the Dutchman continues to remind us all that he is able to get on the scoresheet as well as defend immaculately on almost every occasion – attributes which continue to establish him as the best in world football.

Alisson made a decent save at the near post, but other than that, the defence had little to do as the Reds continued to dominate possession (74%). By the end of the game, Newcastle had only registered 2 shots on target and 3 shots in total.

Score – 7

Midfield

It was yet another superb performance from Naby Keita against Newcastle as he became a strong contender for Man of the Match again. If the Guinean international is able to keep his injury record under control, then there’s no doubt that he has the potential to light up the Premier League next season.

James Milner stepped in for an injured Jordan Henderson to offer some of the structure that the Liverpool captain has provided throughout the season in the middle of the field, whilst Gini Wijnaldum grew into the game during the second half. The Dutchman’s future is beginning to grow more and more uncertain amongst the prevalent rumours of Liverpool’s interest in Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich however, and Wijnaldum is yet to sign a contract extension with the Reds.

Score: 7

Attack

Klopp fielded the strangest and most diverse attacking line up for Liverpool’s last game of the season as Divock Origi, Takumi Minamino and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all featured at the top of the pitch at St James’ Park.

With that in mind, Origi managed to get his 4th goal of the campaign with a brilliant, low shot into the right-hand corner. He’ll be remembered fondly by Liverpool fans forever after his heroics in the Champions League last season, but he hasn’t been able to hit the ground running since the beginning of the current campaign so it will have been a well needed goal for him.

By the time that the regular attacking trio had been substituted on in the 64th minute, it wasn’t long before Sadio Mané also curled one in past Martin Dubravka put the Reds 3-1 up and finish the game off. Mo Salah also had a few good chances on goal – he hit the post after he came before another chance from him forced Federico Fernandez to make a fantastic block at the back.

Man of the Match – Virgil van Dijk

Score – 8