Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0: Reds on a procession to the title as they brush aside Isak-less Toon to go 13 points clear

ARNE SLOT was sat in the main stand at Anfield on a night when Liverpool’s fans started celebrating the title. The moment Alexis Mac Alister swept a shot past Nick Pope for Liverpool’s second goal, with Dominik Szoboszlai having scored the first, the sound of “we’re going to win the League” appeared to be sung by virtually every person inside the stadium.

Apart from Slot, obviously. Although he was probably humming along. Incredibly, Liverpool are now 13 points clear and this gap is certainly unlucky for everyone else. With 10 games left, Liverpool have the cigars out so why don’t the Premier League get on with it and hand over the title now?.

Slot was banned from the dugout as he served the first of a two-match ban due to the red card he received at the end of the Merseyside derby against Everton for comments made to the officials. Throughout that game at Goodison Park, Slot was the most  animated we had seen him since arriving in England and over the next day or so, the FA will release the reasons behind the ban and what was said by the Dutchman.

Yet Slot, who posed for pictures with the mascots near the tunnel before taking his seat in the stands, looked nice and relaxed throughout - and little wonder. Even though Mo Salah failed to score for the ninth game in succession - yet he did deliver an assist  - the red machine rolled on relentlessly.

For Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, it is now just one win in 21 matches against Liverpool and he will be hoping for much better luck in the Carabao Cup final on March 16. BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS. Howe refused to risk striker Alexander Isak after he picked up a slight groin strain.

It was a sensible decision because it would be a disaster if they are without Isak for the final at Wembley. Instead, Newcastle gave a first Premier League start for injury-hit Callum Wilson, who turns 33 on Thursday, although he missed a good chance to level before half-time.

Ultimately, Liverpool were comfortable even though Newcastle did improve in the second half. As you would expect, all the talk before the game was about Salah who is out of contract at the end of this season. Yet in an TV interview early in the day, Salah claimed there was still no news regarding a new deal.

Salah also claimed this is his best campaign at the club even though this is the fifth time he has hit the 30-goal mark. The reason, Salah stressed, was he believes he is helping his team-mates play better and gave the examples of Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo.

In under three minutes, Salah thought he had earned himself a penalty but to his astonishment, referee Stuart Attwell felt the Egyptian had fouled Lewis Hall. Newcastle got away with that as left-back Hall initiated the contact with Salah. But red shirts continued to swarm around the visitors in the final third so an early opening goal was inevitable and it came through in-form Hungarian midfielder Szoboszlai .

Diaz made progress into the area without a proper challenge from Fabian Schar and Szoboszlai made space for himself by moving backwards a couple of yards towards the penalty spot. He then threaded a shot through the legs of both Sandro Tolani and Dan Burn.

Although Diaz did some good work to create the goal, this was nothing compared to a dazzling run to create an opportunity for Kostas Tsimikas. Yet the Greek left-back, having replaced Andy Robertson in the team, proved why he has yet to score for Liverpool with a truly terrible finish.

Newcastle had a couple of chances before the break and Wilson should have equalised when he was put clean through but he lifted the ball wide when he should have just hammered a shot at Alisson. Liverpool struggled to get out of their area in the second half and both Virgl van Dijk and Wilson needed treatment after a clash of heads.

But just as Newcastle saw more of the ball, they were punished in clinical fashion after Sandro Tonali lost possession. Mac Allister collected the ball inside his own half, strode forward to the edge of the area without a proper challenge and exchanged passes with Salah before firing a shot past Pope.

And so the knees-up at Anfield truly started. For Slot, with his team having been knocked out of the FA Cup, he will already turn his attentions to PSG and their last 16 Champions League tie in the French capital on Tuesday. It is a truly nasty reward for finishing top of the Champions League table.