Mohamed Salah headed off to the Africa Cup of Nations on the back of a starring role for Liverpool in their 4-2 win over Newcastle that opened up a three-point lead in the English Premier League on Tuesday. An individual performance that started with his latest failure from the penalty spot ended with Salah scoring Liverpool’s first and last goals and having a hand in the other two for his team in a chaotic game in wet and wild conditions at Anfield. All of the goals came in an end-to-end second half. The league pauses for the FA Cup and then a winter break lasting much of the rest of January with Liverpool looking the team most likely to stop Manchester City winning an unprecedented fourth straight top-flight title. City were in third place, five points behind Liverpool — and two behind Aston Villa — with a game in hand.