During their 4-2 win against Newcastle on New Year’s Day, Liverpool surpassed the Premier League record for most Expected Goals (xG). 

Jurgen Klopp’s team assaulted the Magpies goal at Anfield with 34 shots in all, securing a win that moved them three points clear of Aston Villa at the top of the table. 

Despite surrendering four goals, Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka recorded ten saves, including a first-half penalty save from Mohamed Salah. 

Indeed, the Reds had a number of good chances to break through the visitors’ defense, with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s rebound miss being a prime example. And the xG from their nightly labor demonstrated their dominance. 

The metric is relatively new, having been recorded by statisticians only since the 2010-11 season. Based on the quality of the opportunity created, it indicates whether every given shot should result in a goal. 

Liverpool won their match against Eddie Howe’s team with a massive xG of 7.27 to the Magpies’ 0.59. 

That is the highest figure Opta has ever recorded in a single Premier League match since they began collecting statistics over a decade ago.

 

Despite the Reds’ mastery of the game, Sven Botman’s strike halved the margin that had been constructed by goals from Mohamed Salah, Curtis Jones, and Cody Gakpo following Alexander Isak’s equalizer. 

Salah, on the other hand, converted his second penalty attempt of the game to guarantee that the Reds moved a step closer to winning the Premier League.