Liverpool came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park in the Premier League on Saturday. Mohamed Salah cancelled out Jean-Philippe Mateta’s penalty with his 200th goal for the Reds after Jordan Ayew was controversially sent off before Harvey Elliott scored a fine winner.
Liverpool were strong favourites against a Palace side who were winless in their last four matches. The visitors dominated large parts of possession but it was Roy Hodgson’s team who had the better opportunities in the first half.
The deadlock was eventually broken in the 57th mintue when VAR adjudged Jarell Quansah to have fouled Mateta and the Frenchman did the rest from 12 yards. Ayew was given his marching orders for a second yellow with 15 minutes remaining and Liverpool almost immediately equalised through Salah.
It was backs-to-the-wall stuff for Palace, who lost goalkeeper Sam Johnstone late on due to injury. Substitute Elliott came up with the goods for Liverpool in the first minute of stoppage time with a fine strike from outside the 18-yard box to lead Klopp’s side to the top of the table.
They are now a point clear of Arsenal, who travel to Aston Villa this evening. Express Sport looks at what we learned from a dramatic and controversial match in south east London.
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Klopp gives in to pressure
Jurgen Klopp said as recently as Tuesday that he would not bow down to pressure to play Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield. He insisted he would not listen to the outside noise and claimed the line of questioning was “unpleasant.”
Alexander-Arnold started in his usual right-back role today, inverting into midfield. But Klopp clearly felt the need to change it at half-time.
He took off Wataru Endo and brought on Joe Gomez in his place. That saw Alexander-Arnold move into an out-and-out midfield role that he has played on a number of occasions for England.
Klopp was insistent in midweek that discussions about the 25-year-old’s position would not influence his selection. But it ultimately took just a few days for him to make that change and it will be interesting to see whether it continues.
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Title credentials shown
It is always said that winning when you don’t play well is a sign of a title-winning team. Liverpool were far from their best today but got the job done.
Palace were resolute and arguably had the better of the chances before Ayew was sent off. However, Liverpool won’t care one jot now they have the points on the board.
They host Manchester United and Arsenal in their next two league outings. They can really put a marker down with victory against two of their closest rivals.
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