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Jota went down five minutes from full-time (Picture: Getty)

Premier League legends Alan Shearer and Ian Wright slammed the f*****g embarrassing’ Diogo Jota after his penalty incident in Liverpool’s victory over Newcastle.

The Reds eased to a 4-2 win over Newcastle on Monday night with Mohamed Salah scoring twice and providing an assist in his last performance before departing for the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Egypt international saw a first-half penalty saved by Martin Dubravka but found the back of the net from 12 yards five minutes from full-time.

Jota was played through one on one after a sublime through ball from Alexia Mac Allister, rounding the goalkeeper and taking another step before going down with an open goal in front of him.

Replays suggested Jota’s ankle was caught by the Newcastle goalkeeper but his delayed reaction to the contact attracted widespread criticism.

Former Arsenal star Wright remarked: ‘Would rather go down for a penalty than put the ball in an empty net! Seen it all!’

Newcastle legend Shearer followed up by commenting: ‘F*****g embarrassing.’

Would rather go down for a penalty than put the ball in an empty net! Seen it all!— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) January 1, 2024

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was also disappointed with the decision.

‘We were in the game,’ Howe said. ‘We had our moments as well in transitions, the spirit was there, the players were committed. There was a lot more to the game.

‘We were up against it with two very soft penalties, the second one wasn’t a penalty at all. That doesn’t help when you come here.’

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Asked if he had spoken to his goalkeeper to ask if there was contact, Howe added: ‘I haven’t spoken to him, I have just seen it myself and it looks like Jota takes two steps before he falls down.’

Newcastle have now lost seven of their last eight games having slipped to ninth in the table.

Liverpool meanwhile move three points clear at the top of the league.

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Roy Keane fears for Manchester United (Picture: SkySports)

Manchester United legend Roy Keane says his former side have little chance against Liverpool today after exposing the side’s ‘biggest worry’.

United travel to Anfield after a torrid week in which they’ve lost to Bournemouth and crashed out of Europe.

The pressure is building on Erik ten Hag, and he needs a performance on Merseyside to win over an increasing number of doubters.

United have scored just once in the last eight years at Anfield, and they were beaten 7-0 there last season.

But Keane says it’s United’s lack of goals that are the ‘biggest worry’ and he doesn’t see that changing today.

Ten Hag’s side have had a horrid week (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Asked if United could win today, ‘No, not with their form. Gary mentioned there’s always a bit of hope but is there enough belief in the dressing room? In the manager and his staff? We get stats thrown at us every week and the stats are very, very bad for Manchester United at the moment. ‘But they have to turn up as a team today, they haven’t been turning up as a team. The noises coming out after the Bournemouth game last week was that they thought Bournemouth weren’t going to be that good. Every week there’s an issue with United. They’ve had injury problems. There’s talk of a takeover. People are always looking for answers outside the club but sometimes you’ve got to look at within the dressing room. The players have to find the answer today within the dressing room. ‘There’s guys who aren’t involved, some senior players. But find something from within. It doesn’t look good. You don’t think for one second they’ll come in and win in the form Liverpool are in. But they have to find the form from somewhere. ‘They have to be solid, the goalkeeper will have to play well but the biggest worry for me when I look at United is the lack of goals. It’s a big, big issue. They’re poor at the back but they’ve had their injury problems. But the lack of goals from this team makes it very very difficult.’

MORE : Gary Neville warns Erik ten Hag Man Utd will get ‘killed’ by Liverpool if he repeats mistake

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