Next up for Palace in the restarted season is a trip to Merseyside to take on champions elect Liverpool who will been keen to get their title party started sooner rather than later, but Palace have has a habit of spoiling things as the Reds will know all too well.
DATE
24th June 2020
KICK OFF
8.15pm
VENUE
Anfield Road, Anfield, Liverpool L4 0TH
LAST TIME
It was January 2019 that Palace last made the trek up north to take on Liverpool and it was a much tighter game than many predicted. The Eagles surprised the hosts by going in at the break a goal to the good courtesy of Andros Townsend after a fantastic team move. It took a minute of the restart for the Reds to get back level through Mohamed Salah. Palace soon found themselves behind as Liverpool were back up for it as Roberto Firmino gave them the lead.
The title challengers were expected to pull away and win the game comfortably from that point but they did not reckon with a battling Palace side who equalised through James Tomkins. Salah gave Liverpool the lead again with fifteen minutes to go before Sadio Mane added a fourth. A third for Palace in injury time by Max Meyer meant for a nervous few minutes for the home fans but one more fightback was too much for the Eagles who headed back to South London empty handed.
OFFICIALS
REFEREE – Martin Atkinson
ASSISTANTS – Stuart Burt, Richard West, Mike Dean (fourth official)
VAR – Andre Marriner, Stephen Child (assistant)
Replacement official – Nick Greenhalgh
INJURY CONCERNS
PALACE – James Tomkins, Martin Kelly, Jeffrey Schlupp
LIVERPOOL – Nathaniel Clyne, Xherdan Shaqiri, James Milner, Andrew Robertson, Mohamed Salah, Joel Matip
SUSPENSIONS
None
DISCIPLINE
Red cards – Mamadou Sakho (1), Luka Milivojevic (1), Allison (1)
Yellow cards (5+) – Luka Milivojevic (9), James McCarthy (6), Jordan Ayew (6), James Tomkins (5), James McArthur (5), Fabinho (5)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 23/11/2019 Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool
- 19/01/2019 Liverpool 4-3 Crystal Palace
- 20/08/2018 Crystal Palace 0-2 Liverpool
- 31/03/2018 Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool
- 19/08/2017 Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace
Last FIVE results for Palace;
- 20/06/2020 Bournemouth 0-2 Crystal Palace
- 07/03/2020 Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford
- 29/02/2020 Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Crystal Palace
- 22/02/2020 Crystal Palace 1-0 Newcastle United
- 08/02/2020 Everton 3-1 Crystal Palace
Last FIVE results for Liverpool;
- 22/06/2020 Everton 0-0 Liverpool
- 11/03/2020 Liverpool 2-3 Atletico Madrid
- 07/03/2020 Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth
- 03/03/2020 Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool
- 29/02/2020 Watford 3-0 Liverpool
RECORD AGAINST LIVERPOOL
- Played 54
- Won 14
- Drawn 11
- Lost 29
FORM PLAYERS
Top two rated players from each team so far this season according to Who Scored;
- Sadio Mane 7.49
- Mohamed Salah 7.45
- Wilfried Zaha 7.08
- Jordan Ayew 7.05
ONE TO WATCH
FABINHO
Former clubs – Fluminense, Rio Ave, Real Madrid Castilla (loan), Real Madrid (loan), Monaco
It could be said that the combative Brazilian midfielder has been the missing part of the puzzle for Liverpool, and he has certainly proved a valuable addition to the squad even at the reported fee of £39million in July 2018. The 26-year-old has made 12 full appearances for Brazil after making his debut against Mexico in 2015. In his time at Anfield, he has been given the nickname of ‘The Hoover’ as he cleans everything up.
KEY CLASH
WILFRIED ZAHA v TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD
The Liverpool and England defender has already called out the Palace forward as one of his trickiest opponents which makes this match up the obvious one which promises to be quite mouth watering. We know Alexander-Arnold is not the best defensively but is one of the best going forward so Wilf will need to be on his game more than ever.
PRE-GAME STATS
- Top passers – Virgil van Dijk (2562), Luka Milivojevic (1167)
- Liverpool have won their last 22 home matches in the Premier League
- Top scorers – Mohamed Salah (16), Jordan Ayew (9),
- Palace have kept a clean sheet in their last 4 league games
- Top assists – Trent Alexander-Arnold (12), James McArthur (3), Wilfried Zaha (3)
- Top tackles – James McArthur (71), Jordan Henderson (57)
PREDICTION
One game in for both teams and Palace fared the better in terms of result and with more rest than the hosts, the Eagles will have enough about them to offer up a similar performance to that on the South Coast on Saturday night. Liverpool will want to push on and secure the title sooner rather than later but games between the two sides have more often than not been entertaining battles. It would not be a complete surprise for Palace to take something away from Anfield, but we’re not bold enough to predict a win. A point will do nicely even if it ruins the winning run.
Final score: 2-2
BETTING ODDS
- Home – 1/4
- Draw – 9/2
- Away – 11/1
- Both teams to score – 23/20
