Manchester City will not be looking over their shoulders just yet, but at least Liverpool have closed the gap at the top of the Premier League table to single figures.
The Reds’ faint title hopes had been given a boost, however slight, by City’s draw at Southampton on Saturday, and they took advantage, even if they made heavy weather of things after going 2-0 up through Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Palace, comatose for the first 40 minutes, sprang to life and could have had more than Odsonne Edouard’s 55th minute goal to show for a spirited comeback before Fabinho’s softly-awarded late penalty settled it.
Early on, a repeat of Liverpool’s 7-0 win at Selhurst Park last season was on. They were far too quick in thought and deed for Palace, and went ahead after eight minutes when Palace’s Jeffrey Schlupp appeared to get in the way of teammate Joachim Anderson at a corner kick on the left, allowing Van Dijk to run ten yards unchallenged before nodding in Andy Robertson’s kick.
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Palace had few chances until the final five minutes of the first half. Then Alisson was forced to save after Joel Matip’s wayward pass was intercepted by Michael Olise 18 yards out, and the goalkeeper did even better after Jean-Philippe Mateta had gone round him, recovering fast enough to deflect the Frenchman’s shot at an apparently empty net for a corner.
And Palace passed up two excellent chances in the opening minutes of the second half, both created by crosses from Olise, who suddenly had the beating of Robertson. Conor Gallagher glanced the first wide from three yards out when missing looked harder than scoring, and Edouard took too long over the second after Mateta had headed down.
Finally, after 55 minutes, came one that they could not miss as Mateta, played through by Schlupp, set up Edouard for a tap-in. Now it was just a question of whether Palace could find a second against a tiring Liverpool, who had played only three days before while Palace had had eight days’ rest. Alisson had to be at his best to collect a misdirected header by Robertson and then scoop away a goal-bound lob from Olise.
But instead of a Palace equaliser, Liverpool were handed a winner when Diogo Jota seemed to stumble into goalkeeper Vicente Giuaita only for Kevin Friend to award a penalty after a Var review. Fabinho converted with no obvious embarrassment.
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Player ratings
Crystal Palace
- Guaita – 6
- Ward – 6
- Anderson – 6
- Guehi – 6
- Mitchell – 5
- Gallagher – 6
- Hughes – 6
- Schlupp – 6
- Olise – 8
- Mateta – 7
- Edouard – 5
Substitutes:
- Eze – 7
- Benteke – 6
- Ayew – 6
Liverpool
- Alisson – 7
- Alexander-Arnold – 6
- Van Dijk – 7
- Matip – 6
- Robertson – 6
- Henderson – 7
- Fabinho – 6
- Jones – 7
- Oxlade-Chamberlain – 5
- Firmino – 6
- Jota – 6
Substitutes:
- Minamino – 6
- Milner – 6
- Gomez – N/A
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3tScmQg
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