Palace rally not enough - Liverpool victory means Eagles still searching for first league win

Crystal Palace (0) 0

Liverpool (1) 1 Jota 9

This was a match that seemed to have banker away win written all over it - even among a good many defeatist Palace fans overheard making their way to Selhurst for the lunchtime showdown with Arne Slot's Reds.

But it turned out to be far from as clearcut as that, as the Eagles rallied in the final quarter to make life uncomfortable for the league leaders, who just about clung on to what turned out to be an early winner from Diogo Jota.

The pre-match pessimism was understandable. The Eagles were off form and without a league win so far. They were missing Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen too much. The drop off from high standards set at the tail end of last season evident in Adam Wharton, Jean-Philippe Matete and even Eberechi Eze - axed from the next England squad - were clear.

Besides, isn't this the team that painfully humiliated the Eagles 7-0 at Selhurst just a couple of years ago? Nine defeats in the past 10 clashes with Liverpool in London paint a sorry lop-sided picture over the past decade.

Oh, and Liverpool had won eight out of their opening nine games under their new manager going into this one.

Then again, it was the victory at Anfield in April which first got this side going under Oliver Glasner, so the total embrace of pessimism was arguably unfounded.

Within a minute, we saw that the Eagles could be competitive, when Eddie Nketiah finished a sweet move involving Wharton and Ismaila Sarr. It was ruled out for offside but offered hope a healthier tone.

But the Reds were soon asserting their authority. Some measured passing was followed by a little injection of pace and Cody Gakpo blazed down the left onto a pass from Kostas Tsmikas, and his pass across the box was met by Jota, who tucked it smartly past Dean Henderson.

Trevoh Chalobah, on loan from Chelsea and making his Palace debut, was unable to close down the goalscorer.

Palace were soon being harried into mistakes. Coughing up possession way too often to expect a happy outcome. It looked like a second goal must follow, but it never did.

The Eagles' best moment of the first half came right at the end when Wharton and Maxence Lacroix combined to find Sarr in the box and a firm low strike needed a strong hand from Alisson to halt its goalbound path.

With Liverpool failing to hammer home their superiority - an unmarked Jota missed the target with a glancing header from Trent Alexander-Arnold's floated free-kick - Palace retained hopes of salvaging something from the game.

The introduction of Mateta and Will Hughes on the hour lifted the Eagles and they combined to give Nketiah a chance - the former Arsenal striker drilling straight at Alisson. The crowd was galvanised and a couple of decisions made by ref Simon Hooper upset them enough to raise the volume a notch more.

One of those came when Virgil van Dijk appeared to hold back Marc Guehi as the Palace defender tried to reach a cross into the box.

Mateta made a nuisance of himself during a fine cameo to give Eze a sighter. A strong arm from Alisson was again needed.

The goalkeeper had played a big part in proceedings but would play no further part after tweaking his hamstring and needing to be replaced by Czech debutant Vitezslav Jaros.

Hughes was making a difference too and he stole the ball to free up Mateta for a run that ended with a ball being slipped left for Eze to test the new keeper with a shot that was too straight to do damage.

The extra energy would have been useful earlier in the afternoon. As it was, it could not quite upset those pre-match odds and it leaves Glasner with 16 days to ponder how to change the narrative before the next game at Nottingham Forest after the international break.

Eagles: (3-4-3) Henderson - Chalobah (Kamada 88), Guehi, Lacroix - Munoz (Clyne 17), Wharton (Hughes 60), Lerma, Mitchell (Mateta 60) - Sarr, Nketiah, Eze

Reds: (4-2-3-1) Alisson (Jaros 79) - Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Tsimikas (Robertson 79) - Jones (Endo 88), Mac Allister (Szobozlai h/t) - Salah (Diaz 73), Gravenberch, Gakpo - Jota

Attendance: 25,145