Jamie Redknapp has hailed Trent Alexander-Arnold as one of the best passers in Premier League history, after the Liverpool full-back displayed his undeniable qualities in the Reds' 2-0 win at Newcastle United.
Darwin Nunez opened the scoring for the Reds when he latched onto a sublime long-range outside-of-the-boot pass from Alexander-Arnold, before smashing the ball into the net.
Jurgen Klopp's side went on to win the contest 2-0, with Newcastle finishing the match with 10 men after Nick Pope was sent off for a handball outside his penalty area, but ex-Liverpool midfielder Redknapp was quick to throw praise on the Reds' assist king at half-time, along with former Anfield boss Rafa Benitez.
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Discussing Liverpool's first goal in the Sky Sports studio at St James' Park, Redknapp said: "It’s a great piece of play. It was always going to be a battle between Saint-Maximin and Trent Alexander-Arnold. This time Trent Alexander gets free and plays an exquisite pass to Nunez, who rather than subtlety just goes to smash it as hard as he can - Alan Shearer-esque.
"That’s why he (Alexander-Arnold) will go down as one of the best passers in the history of the Premier League, unbelievable. He sees it so early, doesn’t give the defence a chance. I’m really pleased for this guy, he’s took so much stick but he hits that so pure.
Benitez, who has managed both Newcastle and Liverpool, added: "We talk about if he is good or not defending, but he is great attacking and he creates a lot of chances all of the time. That is one of his strengths, to put the ball behind with the right pass and the right pace, and the right movement of the striker he puts the ball there."
Alexander-Arnold's superb assist caps a good week for the 24-year-old, who played the pass that set up Cody Gakpo for his first Liverpool goal against Everton at Anfield on Monday evening.
Speaking to Sky Sports about Liverpool's first away win since Boxing Day, Alexander-Arnold said: "I think this is a big one. We got our win against Everton, that was a massive one for us as well, I think it meant nothing if we’d have come here and not backed it up with another win, that’s what we came here to do. They are a tough side to beat - very tough - but we picked them apart, two good goals, red card settles the game down for us, makes it even harder for them. It was difficult, tough place to come, not many teams come here and win, so we’re delighted to take the three points home.
When asked specifically about Nunez' opening goal, he said: "I think any stage of the game you need a goal, especially the opening goal in a place like this as well when the crowd’s on your back. It’s down to us to come into intimidating atmospheres and get on top so we got an early goal to settle that down, and it was a good sequence of play - something we worked on in training - especially our triangles on the side, moving them around, and then penetrating through them.
"We were able to do that, a great run from Darwin and a great finish. It was important, they haven’t conceded a lot of goals and that’s something we talked about as well, and to break them down twice is not something teams do, we had two good sequences of play and it could have been more."
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