Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net

/ (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

There was, for a brief period, a neat symmetry to Liverpool's goalscoring numbers after Dominik Szoboszlai had stroked home the opener against Newcastle United on Wednesday night.

The Hungary captain's seventh goal of the season meant the Reds had scored 100 in all competitions, which was shared 50 apiece across home and away games.

The statistic had a deeper meaning than simply being a quirk of a dominant campaign so far, however.

But while it suggested Arne Slot's Liverpool are a team who don't cower away from the plush confines of Fortress Anfield and instead take the fight to the opposition wherever they play, Alexis Mac Allister's strike in the second half of the 2-0 win unbalanced things from that perspective as the Reds made sure they once more score at least two goals at home.

READ MORE:Liverpool already have antidote for £57m accounts loss as soaring expenses explainedREAD MORE:Liverpool accounts confirm £57m loss as no Champions League and £600m cost bites

It's now 18 successive games at Anfield where the Reds have scored a minimum of two, which, according to Opta is the longest run for a top-flight club since Sunderland, way back in 1935.

You have to go back to September for the last time the Reds didn't trouble the Anfield scoreboard in the league and that was in a 1-0 loss to a Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest that now looks like a rare aberration.

The lion's share of the goals have inevitably come from Mohamed Salah, whose tally of 30 for the season was reached when he poached a wonderfully inventive corner routine featuring Mac Allister and Szoboszlai in the 2-0 win over Manchester City.

Detractors suggest there is an overreliance on Salah, who has been responsible for roughly 60% of the club's goal contributions due to his 22 assists and 30 strikes.

It's a fair enough critique but the riposte could feasibly be that there has never been a team in history that does not lean into the feats of a player who many champion as the world's best on current form.

Such star man have that reputation for a reason, Liverpool's No.11 is no different.

With seven goals now, Szoboszlai is equal with the tally he recorded in his debut season at Anfield with a minimum of 13 games to go before the end of the campaign, while Mac Allister is two short of the figure he posted himself at the end of last term.

Cody Gakpo has a total of eight Premier League and 16 in all competitions, which is a mirror image of what was recorded last year and given the form the Netherlands winger has been in prior to his a recent foot injury, you wouldn't back against him edging near to a 20-goal return before the campaign is out.

It is an achievement that is within touching distance for both.

Salah still has some way to go to match the remarkable 44-goal haul he contributed in his first Liverpool season back in 2017-18 but with seven to score to equal his best-ever Premier League return of 32, it would take a brave man to bet against the Egyptian doing so with 10 games left to go and six of them at Anfield.

The difficulties of both are why there is a growing opinion of the need for a centre-forward this summer.

Alexander Isak, of Newcastle United, has been tentatively linked with Slot was coy when asked specifically about the need for a No.9 recently, saying: "Now we have a very good idea about that, and I think it's clear to you that I'm not going to tell you which positions we prefer.

"But it is clear that we've assessed the squad, we've assessed what we think where we can improve, and that's where we try to go for in the summer."

Article continues below

But having scored twice or more in the last 18 matches across all competitions at Anfield, however, the Reds have also scored two goals in five of their last six away games, with the one exception being the abject loss by a much-changed side at Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup.

Go back further and it's two goals or more in seven of the last 10 away games and nine in the 12 most recent, which dates back to mid-December.

Only Nottingham Forest, Tottenham and Plymouth have stopped them registering two or more in that time.

It's why Liverpool, home or away, are proving to be such a formidable force right now and when the goals are flowing in such volume, a remarkable collapse on the home stretch of the Premier League title race doesn't look forthcoming.


For more news relating to Newcastle United, visit our sister site NUFC Latest Live.