Fighting Palace Fall 0-2 At Selhurst Park

Sports - Football - Premier League - PAL 0:2 LIV

Liverpool ended up 0-2 winners at Selhurst Park, thanks to a James Milner penalty (44') and injury-time goal from Sadio Mané (93'), but Crystal Palace certainly did not go down without a fight on Monday night.

Roy Hodgson was left fuming with some of the referee Michael Oliver’s decisions, including the Reds’ spot kick (44’) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s straight red card (75’). 

Jürgen Klopp was a very relieved and the much happier boss watching his side scrape and scratch out a win on the road.

Gulp, believe me when I say my heart was in my mouth for most of the match, it was so tense! Not an easy win, but all three points went to the Reds.

Here are my live match notes as it happened last night:

Both sides name unchanged sides from their wins on the season opening weekend, click here to read my Picks Of The Week 1, see the full line ups at the bottom of this blog.

It’s Liverpool’s 73rd Premier League game on a Monday, the most of any side.

15’ Action Areas: PAL 24%-68%-8% LIV, the Reds dominating, but not getting much from it.

25’ All LFC, till Keita giveaway, after Salah missed a couple of clear chances, Townsend's high powerful shot rises and dips over Alisson from outside the box, to come off the crossbar, first corner to the home side. CLOSE ONE!

28’ Hennessey saves Keita attempt on his near post, first Liverpool corner.

31’ Schlupp chance wide, for all the Red possession, Palace had the better, closer chances. Very important tackle by Gomez against Zaha on another counter!

34’ Possession: PAL 35%-65% LIV

35’ Robertson sends a chance high into the sky from just inside the box.

42’ first booking goes to van Aanholt for his scissor tackle on Milner who got away with a very physical challenge unnoticed shortly before.

44’ PENALTY! Salah down against Sakho, tangle and tackle, grabbing the shirt, kicking out more than once, clumsy challenge, theatrical fall but Michael Oliver had a perfect view.

45’ Milner takes AND SCORES! Hennessey dived the other way, the ball hits the back of the net!

One minute added on, home fans and team furious, boos all round, HT 0-1, better and closer chances for the hosts, however the dominating but wasteful visitors are leading from the spot.

Milner’s last 9 goals have all come from the spot, totalling 49 career PL goals and the Red skipper has not been on the losing side in any of the previous 47 PL games in which he has scored.

49’ Salah overruns, Keita puts it wide, a couple of chances wasted. The Egyptian king is not at his best so far, could and should have netted a couple at least.

52’ Alexander-Arnold booked for bringing down Zaha, failing against the forward’s fine run and trickery.

53’ Alisson saves Milivojevic’s top free kick, curling up and around the wall, punched away to the keeper’s left with both gloves.

55’ Palace corner, Selhurst Park getting louder, the home side have their tails up, Benteke with a high leap and powerful header, Alisson gets down to save it, the ref has whistled anyway. The Reds are under pressure, two attempts on target for the home side this half!

59’ 2nd half possession PAL 65%-35% LIV, Hodgson said something right at the break, the hosts are much more in the game since the restart!!!

67’ Henderson replaces Milner, Liverpool pushing and bossing a bit more again, but the skipper looked more and more frustrated, giving away a couple of reckless fouls. Benteke wasted a good chance high and wide earlier.

70’ Salah slips in the box, offside anyway.

71’ Sorloth replaces Benteke, that change was long overdue, it has not been a good game for the former Liverpool forward.

73’ Alisson collects Zaha's low shot, could’ve been fooled and beaten there by his own defender, but wasn’t.

75’ Salah breaks, runs solo, youngster Wan-Bissaka, who has had a brill match, takes the Egyptian down from behind, he was the last man. Michael Oliver doesn’t hesitate. STRAIGHT RED, Palace down to ten men for the last quarter of an hour.

77’ The free kick is right on the edge of the box, Salah takes, it comes off the wall and goes out for a corner, Hennessey was beaten there, but punches the corner clear and catches the rebound.

79’ Hodgson takes Townsend off, who has had the best chances, Ward replaces him.

80’ Sakho cooly chests the ball to his keeper Hennessey, Liverpool in command.

81’ Low shot by Mané off Salah in the box, Hennessey blocks and collects kneeling down.

82’ Penalty shout for Palace against Wijnaldum, did he get the ball cleanly? Yep, good tackle on McArthur actually.

83’ Meyer comes on for Schlupp, last change by Hodgson.

84’ Hennessey punches over Salah’s attempt, collects the resulting corner, keeping the home side’s glimmer of hope alive.

85’ Zaha pass across the box, finds no one... Gulp...

87’ Lallana comes on for Keita after an impressive performance.

90’ Firmino goes down in the box against a fine tackle by Tomkins, but he is outside the box, so, play continues, ten against ten.

FOUR minutes added on.

Free kick to Palace on the right, Lallana brought down Ward... Tense last seconds... Corner to the home side... Liverpool counter! Salah run, pass to Mané who keeps balance and composure to stay up and going past defender and keeper and scores! 0-2 and relief for the Reds!

Firmino is replaced by Sturridge in the final seconds.

Palace win another corner but it ends 0-2!!! Not top but strong and stubborn performance by the Reds, especially new signings Alisson and Keita impressed, and of course MOTM van Dijk! Another clean sheet and it's the first time under Klopp the Reds have won the first two opening games of the season! BOOM!

Liverpool Goals: Milner pen 45’ & Mané 93’. 

HT Stats: PAL 0-1 LIV

Possession: 32.2%-67.8%

Shots: 3-7

On target: 0-2

Offside: 1-1

Corners: 1-1

Fouls: 4-7

Bookings: 1-0

FT Stats: PAL 0-2 LIV

Possession: 36.9%-63.1%

Shots: 8-16

On target: 2-6

Offside: 2-2

Corners: 6-7

Fouls: 6-13

Bookings: 1-1

Red cards: 1-0

Crystal Palace Team: 13 Hennessey; 29 Wan-Bissaka (sent off 75’), 5 Tomkins, 12 Sakho, 3 van Aanholt (booked 42’); 15 Schlupp (7 Meyer 83’), 18 McArthur, 4 Milivojevic (c), 10 Townsend (2 Ward 72’); 11 Zaha, 17 Benteke (9 Sørloth 71’). 4-4-2

Subs not used: 31 Guaita, 8 Kouyaté, 14 Ayew, 34 Kelly.

Liverpool Team: 13 Alisson; 66 Alexander-Arnold (booked 52’), 4 Van Dijk, 12 Gomez, 26 Robertson; 8 Keita (20 Lallana 87’), 5 Wijnaldum, 7 Milner (c) (14 Henderson 67’); 11 Salah, 9 Firmino (15 Sturridge 94’), 10 Mané. 4-3-3

Subs not used: 22 Mignolet, 18 Moreno, 23 Shaqiri, 32 Matip.

Referee: Michael Oliver

Man of the match: Virgil van Dijk

Ground: Selhurst Park

Attendance: 25,750

Click here for my last LFC match report.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match report, Twitter and Sky Sports app and coverage.

Salah Seals Reds Comeback at Selhurst Park

Sports - Football - Premier League - CPFC 1:2 LFC

Liverpool bagged all three points against Crystal Palace thanks to top scorer Mohamed Salah's late winner after a less convincing performance by the Reds in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off at Selhurst Park.

Click here for my ByTheMinute match coverage.

It was Jürgen Klopp's 100th Premier League match in charge, his record being W54 D28 L18 and seeing 324 goals with this result.

Only Manuel Pellegrini saw more goals in his first 100 PL games with Manchester City (329).

With this win, the Reds completed the double over the London side for the first time since 1997-98.

Palace skipper Luka Milivojevic put the home side ahead from the spot after 12:26 minutes, following Loris Karius barging into Wilfried Zaha.

It wasn't the start the visitors wanted and the hosts kept frustrating the hell out of the Reds.

Sadio Mané was booked for his overdramatised diving antiques just over halfway through the first half.

Referee Neil Swarbrick took his time, replays showing James McArthur had made no contact, instead of making something of the chance, with the ball in the box, the Senegalese decided to go down.

The Eagles fans booed him on after that, he headed the ball in minutes later, to be flagged offside.

Just before the break, Mané's downward header was kept out well by Wayne Hennessey.

The interval saw no changes, former Reds boss Roy Hodgson surely the happier with his side's stubborn display against the shaky visitors.

But it didn't last long, four minutes after the restart Mané levelled from close range fed by James Milner from the left.

Former Liverpool forward Christian Benteke missed a couple of sitters wide, making life too easy for Karius after the keeper's shaky start.

Mané was lucky to escape a second caution and sending off with just under half an hour to go when he was involved in a bit of a tangle and rumble and picked up the ball after falling down once again.

A free kick was given against the number 19, but nothing further, Palace were not happy, Klopp took him off seconds later.

Karius made a cracking save denying Patrick van Aanholt, keeping out a nice left footed free kick into the top left corner, it stayed 1-1.

Sub Adam Lallana didn't last long, being replaced by Dejan Lovren just a few minutes after coming on for Georginio Wijnaldum.

Palace kept pushing but were unable to release a shot nor get anything on target.

Momo made it 1-2 with his 29th league goal of the season in the 84th minute.

The PL top scorer collected and took the shot patiently inside the box, netting from close range into the bottom left corner, assisted nicely by man of the match Andy Robertson from the left.

The Egyptian is now just three goals short of breaking Cristiano Ronaldo's 2007-08 Premier League scoring record.

With this defeat, Palace have lost each of their last four home games against Liverpool in all competitions and drop down to 17th just two points above the drop zone.

Three points keeps LFC comfy in third, five points ahead of Tottenham in fourth and only two points behind United in second, but both have games in hand.

And this match was definitely not a confidence gainer for the Reds ahead of their Champions League quarter final first leg clash against Manchester City on Wednesday.

No matter what Klopp tries to blame it on, criticising the ref or whatever, the Reds were just not good enough most of the match and have to do much better to have a hint of a chance to progress against the league leaders.

Palace Goal: Milivojevic pen 13'.

Liverpool Goals: Mané 49' & Salah 84'.

HT Stats: PAL 1-0 LIV
Possession: 24%-76%
Shots: 2-12
On target: 2-4
Corners: 1-4
Fouls: 4-5
Yellow cards: 2-2

FT Stats: PAL 1-2 LIV
Possession: 30%-70%
Shots: 6-16
On target: 3-6
Corners: 4-6
Fouls: 6-8
Yellow cards: 2-2

CPFC Team: 13 Hennessey; 3 van Aanholt, 12 Sakho, 34 Kelly, 29 Wan-Bissaka (24 Fosu-Mensah 88'); 7 Cabaye (8 Loftus-Cheek 73'), 4 Milivoyevic (c), 18 McArthur (booked 45'); 11 Zaha, 17 Benteke (booked 38'), 10 Townsend. 4-3-3
Subs not used: 14 Lee Chung-yong, 16 Cavilieri, 23 Souaré, 24 Delaney, 44 Riedewald.

LFC Team: 1 Karius (booked 12'); 26 Robertson, 4 van Dijk, 32 Matip, 66 Alexander-Arnold; 5 Wijnaldum (20 Lallana 65' (6 Lovren 70')), 14 Henderson (c), 7 Milner; 19 Mané (booked 24') (21 Oxlade-Chamberlain 64'), 9 Firmino, 11 Salah. 4-3-3
Subs not used: 2 Clyne, 18 Moreno, 22 Mignolet, 28 Ings.

Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Man of the match: Andy Robertson
Ground: Selhurst Park
Attendance: 25,807

Click here for my previous LFC match report.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match report, MOTD, Twitter and Sky Sports coverage.