The visit of the Reds to South London is the last league action for the Eagles for a few weeks ahead of the break and an FA Cup tie so it is a chance to sign off with a good performance and a point, or three.
DATE
23rd January 2022
KICK OFF
2pm
VENUE
Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
LAST TIME
Palace fans will have wiped from their memories the last time Liverpool were visitors to Selhurst Park, which ended in a 7-0 drubbing back in December 2020. With too many scorers to mention and to avoid opening old wounds, the Reds pretty much saw everything they hit go into the net.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Roberto Firmino (9.2)
OFFICIALS
Referee: Kevin Friend. Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Beck. Fourth official: Andre Marriner. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Simon Long
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Jordan Ayew is available for selection again following a disastrous AFCON campaign by Ghana. Wilfried Zaha and Cheikhou Kouyate remain in Cameroon as Ivory Coast and Senegal both safely navigated the group stage. James Tomkins and James McArthur both remain unavailable due to injury.
LIVERPOOL – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may be a late decision after an ankle knock, while Joel Matip may also need to be assessed. Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita are all at the AFCON while Hervey Elliott, Fabio Tavares, Nathaniel Phillips, Thiago and Divock Origi are all expected to miss out through injury.
DISCIPLINARY
RED CARDS – Wilfried Zaha (1), Andrew Robertson (1)
YELLOW CARDS (5+) – Joel Ward (5)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 18/09/21 Liverpool 3-0 Palace
- 23/05/21 Liverpool 2-0 Palace
- 19/12/20 Palace 0-7 Liverpool
- 24/06/20 Liverpool 4-0 Palace
- 23/11/19 Palace 1-2 Liverpool
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 14/01/22 Brighton 1-1 Palace
- 08/01/22 Millwall 1-2 Palace
- 01/01/22 Palace 2-3 West Ham
- 28/12/21 Palace 3-0 Norwich
- 26/12/21 Spurs 3-0 Palace
Last FIVE results for Liverpool;
- 20/01/22 Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool
- 16/01/22 Liverpool 3-0 Brentford
- 13/01/22 Liverpool 0-0 Arsenal
- 09/01/22 Liverpool 4-1 Shrewsbury
- 02/01/22 Chelsea 2-2 Liverpool
RECORD AGAINST LIVERPOOL
- Played 58
- Won 14
- Drawn 11
- Lost 33
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Mohamed Salah 7.82
- Trent Alexander-Arnold 7.64
- Conor Gallagher 7.45
- James McArthur 6.94
ONE TO WATCH
DIOGO JOTA
FORMER CLUBS – Gondomar, Pacos de Ferreira, Atletico Madrid, Porto (loan), Wolverhampton Wanderers
Hot off the back of a midweek brace against Arsenal which secured a place in the League Cup final for Liverpool, the Portuguese international is certainly doing his part to fill the void left behind Salah and Mane who are on AFCON duty.
KEY CLASH
MARC GUEHI v ROBERTON FIRMINO
The much maligned Liverpool striker plays his part for his team even though he is not always in the goals, but he did grab a couple in that heavy defeat for the Eagles, but Guehi has been in good form alongside Joachim Andersen at the heart of defence and will relish to opportunity to go up against the Brazilian international.
PRE-MATCH FACTS
- Palace have lost 9 successive league meetings since a 2-1 win at Anfield in April 2017. The Eagles have never suffered 10 successive top-flight defeats against a single opponent
- Palace’s club record 7-0 home defeat in this fixture last season was their sixth league loss in a row against Liverpool at Selhurst Park
- Palace have only won twice in 10 league games and are in danger of losing successive home fixtures for the first time under Patrick Vieira
- The Eagles have won 2 of their past three league encounters against sides starting the day in the top three of the table, beating Spurs 3-0 and Manchester City 2-0 this season
- Their current 10-match scoring streak at home is the club’s second longest in the top flight after a run of 12 games from February to October 1990
- Conor Gallagher has been directly involved in 10 league goals in 18 appearances for Palace. Andrew Johnson is the only Eagles player ever to reach double figures in fewer games
- Christian Benteke has scored 6 league goals against Liverpool. He scored 9 times in 29 top-flight appearances for the Reds in 2015-16
- Jurgen Klopp’s side have won 10 of their 11 league games this season against teams who began this round of fixtures in the bottom half of the table, only dropping points in a draw at Brentford
- Liverpool could go 5 league matches without a win in London for the first time since October 2015
- They dropped points in each of their last three league away games
- Roberto Firmino’s 10 most recent league goals for Liverpool have all come away, starting with a brace against Palace last season
- Fabinho is one short of 300 career league appearances
- Klopp has won all 6 league away fixtures against Palace – it’s a record for most away matches by a manager against a single opponent without ever dropping points
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Gallagher (7 – 11th in PL)
- ASSISTS – Edouard/ Gallagher/ Olise (3)
- PASSES – Guehi (1283 – 9th in PL)
- TACKLES – Mitchell (62 – 2ND in PL)
- TOUCHES – Guehi (1513 – 11th in PL)
- SHOTS – Benteke (39)
- SAVES – Guaita (51 – 12th in PL)
DID YOU KNOW?
Liverpool are the only club to contest a major final in three countries of mainland Britain. They have played in Glasgow, Cardiff and London.
PREDICTION
It will be interesting to see if Palace catch Liverpool high on a wave of emotion after they reached the League Cup final in midweek. Fact is, this Reds side are used to dealing with such but there is a hope that the hosts can spring a surprise with the visitors missing a few key players from their line up. We are going for an entertaining score draw.
FINAL SCORE: 2-2
BETTING ODDS
- Home – 9/2
- Draw – 16/5
- Away – 8/15
- Both teams to score – 8/11
RESOURCES
