It took just one minute for Newcastle to take the lead at St James’ Park after Dwight Gayle struck against the champions.

 

A Jonjo Shelvey free-kick was taken quickly, with the midfielder finding Gayle, who picked it up well and then fired past Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.

 

 

Liverpool though drew level six minutes before half time when Newcastle could not properly clear a free-kick and an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cross into the box found Van Dijk, whose header looped into the back of the net.

 

And the Reds went in front on the hour mark, Andrew Robertson linking up well with Divock Origi, who hit a low effort into the back of the net from around 20 yards out.

 

 

Sadio Mane, on off the bench, made it 3-1 with a minute left to cap off the win for the visitors.

 

For Van Dijk, Liverpool produced a superb performance in the second half. The Dutchman also stressed that thoughts instantly turn to next season and being as fresh as possible for it.

 

“It was an outstanding game in the second half. We played amazing football, and created chances. A well deserved win”, he was quoted as saying by the BBC.

 

 

“Hopefully we’ll be fresh and ready to go for next season in a couple of weeks.

 

“For this beautiful club it’s outstanding and should spur us to retain the title.

 

“It will be tough. Teams will improve and they’ll want to beat us more.

 

“We’ll focus on each game at a time as we did this season. It will be a new challenge.”

 

The new Premier League campaign is due to start on 12th September.