LONDON: Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse grabbed two more goals as he outshone £35m ‘old boy’ Andy Carroll in a 2-0 victory over 10-man Liverpool at St James’ Park.
Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina is likely to miss the FA Cup semi-final against Everton if his headbutt on James Perch is judged violent conduct by the FA, which would mean a three-game ban.
This was the Spaniard’s second red card in English football; previously he was dismissed, also for a headbutt, on Arjen Robben then of Chelsea, in February 2006.
Senegal forward Cisse took his tally to seven goals in seven league games with a 19th-minute header and a second from close range 14 minutes into the second half. Victory lifted Newcastle 11 points clear of Liverpool.
This was Liverpool’s third successive defeat, increasing pressure on manager Kenny Dalglish who is being questioned by the club’s American owners over the failure of high-price signings such as Carroll.
The ex-Newcastle striker may face club disciplinary action for his angry reaction in being substituted – embarrassingly for him – in front of his old fans.
Earlier Carroll had beem booked for diving after nine minutes and headed badly over the bar from close range shortly before half-time.
Dalglish said: “We started well enough and created a few chances and never took them. The boys showed a bit of frustration, that’s why Pep got sent off, out of frustation at being behind. Then, when Andy comes off and runs up the tunnel, it’s purely disappointment and frustration but we’ve got to manage it and make sure we channel it another way on another day. There’s no point feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Tottenham moved level on points with third-placed Arsenal after one Bundesliga ‘old boy,’ Rafael Van der Vaart, outplayed another in Gylfi Sigurdsson in a 3-1 win at home to Swansea.
The two exchanged initial goals before the Dutchman laid on another for Emmanuel Adebayor. The Togo striker also headed the third, from an Aaron Lennon cross, which secured Spurs’ first victory in six league games.
# # # #