Crystal Palace 1-3 Liverpool: Writz goal and assist piles the pressure on Sage as Eagles remain bottom
Liverpool returned to winning ways in the capital as they beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Reds started the brighter of the two sides, but it was Palace who had the first real chance of the match when Jørgen Strand Larsen failed to hook Tyrick Mitchell’s cross towards goal.
The visitors continued to look threatening every time they got forward in the opening stages, as Bradley Barcola felt he should’ve been awarded a penalty for a push by Óscar Mingueza when both rose to meet a dangerous cross.
The referee, Tony Harrington, was having none of the Frenchman’s protests though.
Palace then came inches away from taking the lead against the run of play after Yéremi Pino’s left-footed strike in the Liverpool box ricocheted off the crossbar.
The Eagles then thought they had taken the lead as Pino’s deflected shot fell into the path of Strand Larsen, who tapped in from close range, but the offside flag was raised against the Norwegian and kept the game goalless.
Palace were punished for failing to take their chances, as Dominik Szoboszlai’s superb free kick was headed in by Mac Allister who was left unmarked at the front post and put Liverpool ahead.
Pierre Sage’s side started the better of the two in the second half but a fast breakaway down the right saw Barcola pick out Wirtz in the Palace box, who smartly finished into the bottom corner for his first Premier League goal of the season.
The visitors looked comfortable for a large portion of the second half after doubling their lead but still needed some big saves from Alisson to keep Palace from getting back into the game.
Liverpool got their third goal of the match in the closing stages as Wirtz linked up with Isak in the box, who sealed the three points with a clinical finish from another fast break by the Reds.
Palace snatched away Liverpool’s clean sheet in the dying moments though as Miloš Kerkez was deemed to have gone in late on Darío Osorio and handed the hosts a penalty, which Eddie Nketiah fired in for consolation.
The impressive performance by Andoni Iraola’s side saw them lifted into the Champions League places.
They face rivals Manchester United in their next game on 22nd November.
For Palace however, the result leaves them rock bottom of the Premier League heading into the international break and could see Pierre Sage sacked before they travel to face Coventry City on 21st November.
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