Liverpool returned from their trip to Selhurst Park on Saturday with a 0-1 victory over Crystal Palace, just enough to make sure they remain at the top of the Premier League table after seven rounds. The only goal of the game was the work of Diogo Jota in the ninth minute, following some excellent work from surprise starters Kostas Tsimikas and Cody Gakpo.
The teams
Palace boss Oliver Glasner chose to arrange his men in a 3-4-3 system, with the idea of his man shifting into a 5-4-1 when defending. With Dean Henderson in goal, reported Liverpool target Marc Guehi marshalled the back line, with Trevoh Chalobah and Maxence Lacroix by his side. Adam Wharton and Jefferson Lerma were in the middle of the park, flanked by Tyrick Mitchell on the left and Daniel Munoz on the right. Up front, former Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah had Ismaila Sarr and Eberechi Eze in support.
For Liverpool, Arne Slot went with his usual 4-2-3-1 setup. Alisson Becker was between the posts, with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate forming the centre-back partnership. On the left, Andy Robertson was given a rest in favour of Tsimikas, while Trent Alexander-Arnold retained his place on the right. Ryan Gravenberch partnered Alexis Mac Allister in midfield again, with Curtis Jones stepping in for Dominik Szoboszlai in the more advanced role. Gakpo and Mohamed Salah attacked from the flanks, with Diogo Jota leading the line.
The game
Palace started very well, making clear after only 27 seconds that this trip would be no picnic for the six-time European champions as Nketiah got on the end of a low cross from Sarr and chipped cleverly over Alisson. The ball went into the back of the net, but to the disappointment of the majority of the crowd in the stadium, the linesman’s flag rightly went up for offside.
Liverpool, however, responded decisively in the ninth minute. Tsimikas sent a fine pass through the Palace line, catching Munoz off guard and finding the run of Gakpo. The Dutchman put a low ball into the box, right on the edge of six yards, where a misunderstanding between Guehi and Chalobah enabled Jota to get between them and poke home.
The visitors mostly attacked for the remainder of the first half, with Mac Allister and Alexander-Arnold both coming close to doubling their lead and forcing Henderson to show his quality, but Palace suddenly got a chance to equalize in the second minute of stoppage time. It was Sarr who found himself in a good position to score and his shot was very good, but not good enough to beat Alisson.
Henderson was the home side’s hero again on the stroke of 56 minutes, when Van Dijk whipped a pin-point pass deep into the box to find Salah. The Egyptian was face-to-face with the Palace ‘keeper, who emerged victorious from that particular duel.
On the hour mark, Glasner decided it was time to start making changes and introduced Will Hughes and Jean-Philipp Mateta for Mitchell and Wharton. The newcomers certainly made an impact, and Palace gradually wrestled the control over the flow of the game from Liverpool’s grasp.
Minute 64 saw Hughes nick the ball from Gravenberch’s possession and Lerma sent it straight towards Mateta, who laid it off for the incoming Nketiah to fire from the edge of the box, but Alisson was in position to deal with the shot. Eze was the next to test the Brazil international in the Liverpool goal with a powerful shot six minutes later, and he was equal to it again.
But if the Merseysiders felt at any point that their No. 1 would always be there to save the day, their fears probably rose to great heights in the 77th minute, when Alisson dropped to the ground clutching his hamstring. Caoimhin Kelleher, Liverpool’s usual backup option between the posts, was out sick, and when it became clear Alisson would not be able to continue, Slot was forced to send on his third-choice man for the role, 23-year-old Vitezslav Jaros.
With six minutes of the 90 left on the clock, Palace had their arguably best chance of the match. Hughes and Mateta were involved again, as the midfielder won the ball in his own half and passed to the striker further up. Hughes’ pass left both Alexander-Arnold and Konate out of the equation, and having carried the ball for about 10 yards, Mateta passed to Eze on the left. Eze had quite enough time and space to pick a corner and put the ball into it, but his shot went straight into Jaros.
In the end, the Palace wingers were left to rue their missed chances as referee Simon Hooper blew the final whistle after six minutes of stoppage time.
Table rankings
With this victory in the bag, Liverpool moved four points clear at the top of the Premier League table for a few hours, which means that subsequent triumphs of Manchester City over Fulham and Arsenal over Southampton weren’t enough to pull them down. After his team’s win over Bologna in the Champions League earlier in the week, Slot will be pleased with being able to rest a few regular starters and still take all three points.
The biggest worry for Liverpool now is how serious Alisson’s injury is. Kelleher and Jaros are obviously decent options, but there are maybe a handful of goalkeepers in the world, no more than that, able to match the quality of the Brazilian. To make things worse, speaking after the game, Slot revealed that the reason behind his decision to replace Mac Allister with Szoboszlai at halftime was due to the Argentina international also picking up an injury.
Things don’t look too good for Palace either on that front. They also lost a player to injury in this game, with Munoz forced to make way for former Liverpool defender Nathaniel Clyne after 16 minutes.
With just three points from seven league games this term, Glasner’s team sits in 18th place, as one of the four sides yet to beat anybody. Only Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers have done worse. To the defence of Glasner and his players, their performances haven’t been quite as bad as their position in the table suggests, but the fact remains that they’re inside the relegation zone at the moment.
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