Crystal Palace vs Liverpool: Match Preview

Liverpool travel to face Crystal Palace on Sunday, hoping to break their recent curse at Selhurst Park with a win that would see them improve their current league position.

Jurgen Klopp remains hopeful that Liverpool can continue to press up higher in the table and perhaps slot into the top four places at the end of the season, depending on the form of their rivals. However, in order to do so Liverpool must eradicate their inconsistencies which have plagued their season so far. All too often they have come away with terrific wins against the big teams, only to falter to the likes of Watford and Newcastle – teams they really should be beating with all due respect.

Their 3-0 dispatching of Manchester City on Wednesday night once again reflected what Jurgen Klopp’s side are capable of. Liverpool dominated the entire game, spreading the ball well and putting the away side under pressure from the first whistle with their new style of gegenpressing. Manchester City couldn’t afford a second on the ball and as a result were pressed into mistakes which the Reds capitalised on. Adam Lallana opened the scoring with a long range effort that crept into the near post following poor goalkeeping from Joe Hart, who many believed should have done much better. The England international has scored three goals in his last four Premier League games – as many as in his previous 37 appearances. However, not many could argue with the scoreline as Liverpool were by far the better side, showing much more desire and intent throughout the match given their search for revenge following the Cup final.

James Milner was next on the scoresheet after a fine move with Roberto Firmino that resulted in the ex-City man rifling the ball into the back of the net. Milner has not been on the losing side in any of the 41 league matches in which he has scored – only Darius Vassell with 46 games, has a better record. Firmino, who many deemed a flop when he first arrived at Anfield put in another stunning performance for his side alongside Adam Lallana who was a livewire throughout the game and showed great energy to chase down the opposition and put in a defensive shift to ensure they came away with a clean sheet. Firmino got his reward for a good performance with the third and final goal of the game, when an insisive ball from Adam Lallana was poked through to Firmino, who’s delightful finish was guided out of the reach of the onrushing Joe Hart to secure the points for Liverpool.

The result certainly will have healed some of the wounds of last Sunday’s defeat and the players will go into the game with Crystal Palace hungry for more goals and points, with the season drawing to a close in just ten games time. A win would give the Reds three successive league wins for the first time in a year since a five match streak between February and March 2015.

In his pre-match press conference, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reflected on his side’s chances of a top-four finish: “Six points is not the world. We have to show it, Consistency has not been our hobby until now. We need to improve that. Our starting position isn’t a masterclass but we are still in a good enough position to achieve something. I have some hard selection decisions to make. We haven’t had this before. We have to use this new quality to change and rest.”

Crystal Palace currently lie in 14^th place, with 33 points from 28 games. The Eagles are currently in a poor run of form, failing to register a single win in eleven leagye games (D4 L7) and thus Liverpool will be confident of securing another three points on Sunday. Pardew’s side are the only side in the top four divisions of English football without a league win in 2016 and have also failed to win five consecutive top flight home games, losing the last four. Thus, this weekend’s match has a huge degree of importance for Alan Pardew’s side who will be desperate to get out from their current rut before they are pulled further towards the relegation area.

Despite their poor form, Palace certainly have the ability to cause Liverpool a whole host of problems and Connor Wickham has netted two goals in each of his last two league appearances, meaning Liverpool will have to be alert to the danger if they are to record another clean sheet. Furthermore, the likes of Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha carry a great threat down the flanks for the home side who will be looking to exploit the pace in the team and get lots of crosses into the box to put Simon Mignolet under pressure.

In his pre-match press conference, Alan Pardew stated that : “Liverpool were terrific [in midweek]. That high-pressing game is exciting to watch. It doesn’t always work though. If we can find a way around that [high press], we can cause Liverpool problems like we have done in the past. We improved at Sunderland. The boys coming back [from injury] will help us progress. It’s a different team to the one of four or five weeks ago.”

Head To Head

Crystal Palace have scored 11 goals in their last four league games against Liverpool – as many as they netted in their previous 15 top light matches against the Reds. The Eagles have only lost one of their last six Premier League games against Liverpool (W4 D1), winning the last three. In addition, Liverpool’s last away league win at Selhurst Park was in December 1997, when Steve McManaman, Michael Owen and Oyvind Leonhardsen scored in a 3-0 victory.

Team News

Daniel Sturridge and Mamadou Sakho are back in training for Liverpool after missing the midweek game against Manchester City and could both feature against Palace. However, Sakho may not be risked following his head collision with Emre Can last Sunday. Dejan Lovren and Kolo Toure put in impressive performances against Pellegrini’s side and thus could retain their places as Klopp looks to build some momentum for the final ten games of the season.

Philippe Coutinho will be hoping to gain a starting place after being rested on Wednesday night but fellow Brazilian Lucas Leiva will be sidelined for five weeks with a thigh injury he picked up at Wembley following extra time with Manchester City.

Crystal Palace have a few injuries to contend with heading into the game. Connor Wickham and Wayne Hennessey are both set to face late injury tests and will be monitored before the match but remain highly doubtful to feature. James McArther and Jason Puncheon are ruled out but Pape Souare will return to the side following a ban.

Predicted Line Up

While Simon Mignolet has made a number of costly errors this season, he put in a good performance against Manchester City in midweek and so I’d keep him in goal against Crystal Palace. Hopefully he can put in a similar performance and not make any glaring errors that could cost Jurgen Klopp’s side dearly.

While Mamadou Sakho is back in contention for Sunday, I would personally stick with the partnership of Kolo Toure and Dejan Lovren. The pair dealt well with the threat of Sergio Aguero, which is by no means an easy task and Toure made a number of key interceptions to prevent the Argentinian striker from getting a strike off at goal. Jon Flanagan impressed greatly against Manchester City, keeping Raheem Sterling in his pocket for 45 minutes before the ex-Liverpool man was substituted off at half time. Flanagan devoted a lot of his time to defending and thus there was much more protection around Mignolet, given how Moreno tends to bomb forward and can be susceptible when defending his own goal. I’d give Flanagan the nod on Sunday with Clyne on the other flank to provide some width down the left hand side.

In terms of the midfield, Emre Can and Jordan Henderson can sit in the middle of the park and provide the creativity from deep while adding some cover to the defence when the opposition have the ball on the attack. Their energy in midfield will be crucial to the outcome of the game. Firmino and Lallana were thorns in the side of Pellegrini’s side throughout the match on Wednesday and therefore I would start them alongside Philippe Coutinho in order to add an attacking edge to the side and provide chances for Daniel Sturridge, who should return to the side as long as he is fit enough to start from the off.

Predictions

Liverpool have often struggled against Crystal Palace, with the tragic loss that derailed their title charge the worst of the lot, but Jurgen Klopp’s side will head into the game with confidence having gained revenge from the Capital One Cup final defeat last Sunday. They were angry in midweek and they’ll need to have the same mentality and desire going into the game to come out with a positive result, given the quality within the Palace side and the attacking pace they have within their ranks such as Puncheon and Bolasie.

Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool

Will Liverpool break the curse at Selhurst Park and get a big three points against Crystal Palace to push themselves up the table? Or will the curse continue with Alan Pardew’s side coming out on top to reflect more inconsistency from the Merseyside outfit? The game kicks off at 13:30pm.