Premier League: Newcastle 2 Liverpool 0

A double from Papiss Demba Cisse led Newcastle to a convincing 2-0 victory over Liverpool in the English Premier League on Sunday.

The Sengalese striker scored a first-half header and then rounded Pepe Reina to complete his brace in the second half.

Liverpool were then reduced to 10 men after Reina was shown a straight red card for a head butt on James Perch.

The first chance of the game fell to Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey whose dipping shot took a wicked deflection but trailed over the bar.

The visitors continued their bright start when a Steven Gerrard free kick landed on the head of Martin Skrtel, but the Slovakian failed to find the target from inside the six yard box.

Liverpool continued to have the best of early proceedings as Craig Bellamy’s cross was deflected onto the bar by Tim Krul.

But it was the home side who took the lead in the 19th minute when Hatem Ben Arfa produced a fine run before supplying to the back post for Cisse to guide an angled header home.

Newcastle nearly doubled their advantage after a Demba Ba shot took a wicked deflection off Skrtel but just went past the post.

Alan Pardew’s side continued to press after the interval as Yohan Cabaye fed Mike Williamson whose header came back out off the post.

The second goal came after a swift passing move from Newcastle, with Ba pushing a ball across the area that Cisse collected before calmly rounding Reina and slotting home.

Liverpool came straight back on the offensive and after Krul failed to deal with a cross into the box it appeared Luis Suarez would halve the deficit, only for a remarkable block from Perch to further frustrate the visitors.

Things went from bad to worse for Kenny Dalglish’s men with Reina being sent off after a confrontation with Perch in the 83rd minute.

The victory leaves Newcastle in sixth place on the Premier League standings while Liverpool are eighth after three consecutive league defeats.