NEWCASTLE, England: Ayoze Perez came on at halftime to score the winner for the second straight week as Newcastle beat a lackluster Liverpool 1-0 Saturday in the Premier League.
Moussa Sissoko broke into Liverpool's penalty area in the 73rd minute at St. James' Park and tried to play in Remy Cabella. Alberto Moreno intercepted the cross but was unable to clear, and Perez lashed the ball in from 10 meters (yards).
"We were punished for a mistake and that is what cost us the game," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. "We passed the ball well. The options in front of the ball were good but we probably lacked that little bit in the final third of the field. We did not create as much as we would have liked."
It was Newcastle's second victory against a top club in four days, having eliminated Manchester City from the League Cup on Wednesday. Newcastle defender Steven Taylor praised manager Alan Pardew for responding to intense pressure from supporters to leave the club by inspiring his side to a fourth straight win.
"Everybody is fully behind him and the main thing is, we keep winning and everybody is happy," Taylor said. "It's exciting and obviously we have got a bit of momentum going into the next game but we just keep taking it one game at a time and not getting carried away."
It was yet another Liverpool display lacking the energy and creativity it became renowned for last season and another Premier League game where Mario Balotelli failed to find the net for his new club, taking the unwanted streak to eight matches.
Papiss Cisse came closest to opening the scoring in the first half for Newcastle on 37 minutes, when Glen Johnson cleared his shot off the line after Simon Mignolet had failed to claim a corner.
Three minutes later, Martin Skrtel sent a free header wide from Steven Gerrard's corner in Liverpool's only key chance in a subdued performance.
The 21-year-old Perez replaced Cisse at the interval, and after scoring the winner in Newcastle's 2-1 comeback victory at Tottenham last weekend, proved the difference once again for Pardew's side.
Newcastle could have secured the result four minutes after scoring when Cabella raced through one-on-one against Mignolet, but the Liverpool goalkeeper saved Cabella's low shot with his feet.
Rodgers introduced strikers Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert in search of an equalizer, but Liverpool failed to create anything to challenge Tim Krul.
