Crystal Palace vs Liverpool: Can the Reds pile the pressure on Pierre Sage?

Sunday afternoon in South London sees Crystal Palace take on Liverpool, as both sides look to return to winning ways in the Premier League. 

The Eagles head into the fixture with Pierre Sage under immense pressure, having only won two of his first nine Premier League games in charge. 

Palace hosted Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thursday, and after being reduced to ten men for a second consecutive game, were fortunate to have rescued a point in stoppage time.

Sage’s focus quickly shifted to Sunday’s fixture though, as he described Liverpool as “a crazy team with really good players".

“I think they will come with a lot of ambition, and we have to deal with that,” he added.

Liverpool will also be looking to bounce back in the Premier League, after they suffered a 1-0 home defeat against Arsenal last weekend.

The Reds will travel to Selhurst Park off the back of a disappointing 3-2 away loss to Fenerbahce in the Champions League on Wednesday. 

Despite leading the game twice, defensive errors ultimately gifted the Turkish Giants the three points and leaves Andoni Iraola with problems of his own. 

Head-to-head:

Palace have enjoyed a recent spell of success against Liverpool, losing just one of the last five meetings between the two sides. 

The Eagles defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Selhurst Park last season before dismantling the Reds 3-0 at Anfield in the Carabao Cup a month later.

However, Liverpool put an end to this run by picking up a 3-1 victory at Anfield the last time the two faced off.

Team news:

Palace will be without Jean-Phillipe Mateta for Sunday’s match, after his three-game ban was upheld on appeal, following his red card in the loss against Tottenham.

Ismaila Sarr, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Chadi Riad are all out with injury. 

For Liverpool, Ryan Gravenberch remains a doubt after missing the midweek trip to Istanbul, with Iraola describing the issue as a “day-to-day thing”.

Sunday’s game will also come too soon for both Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley.

Long-term absentees Hugo Ekitiké and Giovanni Leoni are both without a set return date.

Predicted line-ups:

Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): Henderson; Richards, Disasi, Canvot; Mingueza, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; McNeil, Pino; Guessand.

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Barcola, Wirtz, Gakpo; Isak.