Liverpool consolidated their lead of the Premier League with a 1-0 victory away at Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
Diogo Jota marked his 100th start for the Reds in all competitions with a clinical piece of finishing just nine minutes in at Selhurst Park.
Arne Slot’s charges were unable to add to their advantage in the remainder but ensured no response from Palace either, to claim a sixth win in seven league matches in 2024-25 so far.
Team news
Head coach Slot made four changes to his starting XI, including places in attack for Cody Gakpo and Jota. Kostas Tsimikas came in at left-back and Curtis Jones joined the midfield.
First half
The Eagles almost made the perfect start with less than one minute played.
Picked out in the centre of the box from the right flank, Eddie Nketiah deftly lifted the ball over Alisson Becker from close range – but a raised offside flag cut short celebrations.
Emerging from the hosts’ early buoyancy, Liverpool began to settle and they carved through to take a ninth-minute advantage with an excellent goal.
Tsimikas threaded a pass through the left channel for Gakpo to move in behind and he in turn guided a low pass along the front of goal, where Jota arrived determinedly and planted a finish past Dean Henderson.
Slot’s men were enjoying more than 80 per cent of the ball around the midway point of the half as they probed for a second, with Gakpo lashing one curler too high from the corner of the area.
Trent Alexander-Arnold drew a diving save from Henderson with a low, angled half-volley from 20 yards, before Jota miscued a strong chance on 34 minutes.
Ryan Gravenberch had combined with Mohamed Salah to break into space right of the box and picked out the goalscorer in the centre. Jota got minimal contact on his attempted side-footer, however, and the ball drifted away.
There was another Reds chance before the break as Virgil van Dijk met Alexander-Arnold’s near-post corner but could only glance off target as Nathaniel Clyne leaned on the Liverpool captain.
Still, the visitors needed Alisson to get down quickly and grasp a low drive across goal from Ismaila Sarr, who had been fed into shooting territory by Maxence Lacroix’s crisp forward pass.
Second half
Dominik Szoboszlai replaced Alexis Mac Allister in the Liverpool midfield at the beginning of a half that quite quickly settled back into the pattern of the opening 45 minutes.
The first genuine chance materialised for the away team on 56, Salah picked out in the Eagles area to the right. The Egyptian got the ball under control and prodded it towards the net but found Henderson in the way.
Jota spurned the chance to give Slot’s side a cushion on the scoresheet just after the hour mark, heading wide when connecting with Alexander-Arnold’s delicate set-piece into the middle.
The Reds then required Alisson again to keep Palace at bay, the No.1 repelling Nketiah’s effort from the edge of the box after he was set up by substitute Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Szoboszlai sent a fizzer from range into the hands of Henderson and Alisson pawed away a blast from Eberechi Eze as the jeopardy increased in what had hitherto been a quite tepid contest.
The sense of a knife-edge continued as Alisson was forced off with an injury – Vitezslav Jaros making his senior Liverpool debut as his replacement – and Will Hughes hooked an ambitious strike near the top corner.
The hosts almost caught the visitors with a late counter-attack led by Mateta but Eze’s final finish was claimed by Jaros, so the Reds’ single goal ultimately secured all the points.
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