More reaction and analysis
And with that, this report comes to a close. Andy Hunter is our man on Merseyside, and he was there to witness Liverpool demolish Palace. Here’s his report. Enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Klopp, in full Cheshire Cat mode, speaks. “Imagine if this stadium were full today, and all the people could have experienced that live. It would have been amazing! I don’t think the game could have been better, because my boys played like everybody was in the stadium, they were pushing themselves, the atmosphere on the pitch was incredible. So I have said before, I would like to see some of the best games behind closed doors ever, because we don’t want to have them that often. It was for sure the best counter-pressing game I ever saw behind closed doors, because it was exceptional. I liked it! You have to be calm. The free kick from Trent helped us. Palace didn’t change their approach but we felt more free. The expectations on us are really big, so we had to clarify that. This was a reaction and I liked the game so much. Four up, in the 87th minute, and four players were chasing this poor Crystal Palace player as though it was the only ball in the world. I liked that so much.”
An eye-opening stat courtesy of Sky and Opta: this is the first time since records began in 2008 that a team hasn’t had a single touch in the opposition box. An unwanted record for Palace, but they’ll probably be relieved to have kept the score down to four, so it’s swings and roundabouts with the old numbers.
An extremely content Trent Alexander-Arnold speaks. “It was massive. The lads have done really well. It was a difficult game for us, we were quite disappointed to only get the draw on Sunday, but the first game back at Anfield couldn’t have gone any better for us. We’re happy with the win. Obviously I’ve been practising a lot.” He’s told Jamie Carragher has described his free kick as Beckhamesque, which went down well. A huge smile. “He’s probably the best Premier League free-kick taker in history, the comparison is obviously really nice but there’s still a lot of work to do to get to his level.” Sky then move on to the subject of winning the league. He tries very hard not to betray his emotions but an excitable grin eventually wins that battle hands down. “Well, it’s two points, so I’d say yeah, it’s quite close. But obviously we know a lot can happen. We’re close, we’ve worked hard and waited a long time, this is what we’ve always dreamed of. We’re in a good position and hopefully we’ll be able to get across the line very soon.”
That fine win takes Liverpool to within two points of their 19th league title. The Premier League trophy could be in their hands this time tomorrow night, if Manchester City fail to win at Chelsea. Palace meanwhile stay in ninth spot, a couple behind Sheffield United who also lost this evening.
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FULL TIME: Liverpool 4-0 Crystal Palace
Four flatters Palace. Liverpool were superb.
90 min +3: Williams has enjoyed an excellent cameo, and here he sashays in from the right before sending a riser towards the top left. Hennessey is behind it all the way. “Naby Keïta doesn’t have an Umlaut,” writes our other old linguistic pal Steve Coombs. “He does, however, have a diaeresis.”
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90 min +1: In the first of three added minutes, Williams splits the Palace defence with a sliderule ball down the right channel. Salah is one on one with Hennessey, and with Minamino free in the middle. Salah tries to find his team-mate with an outside-of-boot flick, but Hennessey interjects with a strong hand.
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90 min: A Liverpool corner out on the left. Elliott takes. Minamino returns the ball and Elliott wins another corner. Keita has a shot deflected behind from that one. Corner number three doesn’t beat the first man.
88 min: Keita sends Salah away down the right. Salah’s got Williams careering outside on the overlap, but he can’t find the young full-back with the defence-bothering ball.
86 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain sends Minamino scampering down the right channel, but the resulting pull back is to nobody in particular. Meanwhile one last shout from Peter Oh: “Keïta on! More umlauts!”
84 min: Before the restart, some changes. Ayew’s race is run, and he’s replaced by Pierrick. Liverpool replace Robertson and Mane with Keita and Elliott.
83 min: Mane elegantly flicks Robertson clear down the left. But the ball had hit referee Martin Atkinson a split second earlier, and he blows up for a drop ball. Smiles all round.
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82 min: Williams makes good down the right and pulls back for Salah, who nearly executes a defence-splitting one-two with Minamino. Not quite. Liverpool have not declared.
80 min: Ayew also shows some frustration, albeit for different reasons as he’s easily brushed off the ball by Gomez.
78 min: Mane tries to blast his way into space down the left. He nearly manages it but takes a heavy touch past the last man and runs the ball out for a goal kick. He’s visibly frustrated, even with his side four up. One of the many reasons Liverpool will be two points away from their first title in 30 years this evening.
76 min: Liverpool with more of the pretty triangles.
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74 min: A couple of changes by Liverpool, as Alexander-Arnold makes way for talented understudy Williams, while Minamino takes the place of Firmino.
73 min: Liverpool continue to stroke it around. They’ve been staggeringly dominant.
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71 min: That’s drinks. What a first-time pass that was from Salah, quarterbacking in the centre circle. Had he delayed at all, Mane would have had to check his run or be caught offside. But it was perfectly judged and Mane was away.
GOAL! Liverpool 4-0 Crystal Palace (Mane 69)
This is a lovely move. Mane spins in from the left touchline and lays off to Firmino, who shuttles the ball further in- and upfield to Salah. Salah creams a perfectly weighted first-time pass down the inside left, where Mane had kept running. Mane reaches the box, opens his body, and slots confidently into the bottom right. Game very much over.
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68 min: Townsend has a look down the right but there’s nothing doing. No options, you see.
66 min: Now it’s Palace’s turn for some armband-swapping action. Stand-in captain Kouyate makes way for regular chief Milivojevic, while McArthur is replaced by Riedewald.
65 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain is immediately in the thick of things, creaming a shot from the left-hand edge of the D over the bar.
64 min: Liverpool captain Henderson makes way for Oxlade-Chamberlain and hands his armband to Van Dijk.
63 min: Sky’s virtual crowd celebrates a fourth Liverpool goal, but Salah’s curler towards the top left floats just wide.
61 min: Palace are being given the runaround. They get a breather after Van Aanholt is clipped by Henderson and requires a quick wipe down with the magic sponge.
59 min: Liverpool keep coming at Palace. First Firmino nearly opens them up down the inside-right channel, but can’t execute a backflick that would tee up one of several team-mates. Then Alexander-Arnold barrels into acres down the right but sends an uncharacteristically aimless cross out of play on the other side.
57 min: Liverpool fans of a glass-half-empty persuasion are now permitted to worry about a Crystanbul-style capitulation. Others will assume this is over now. It certainly should be, because Wijnaldum has just shot straight into Hennessey’s arms from six yards. How did he miss? Fine work by Mane out on the left to tee him up. That’s three egregious misses by the Dutch midfielder now.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-0 Crystal Palace (Fabinho 55)
Fabinho is given way too much time and space, the best part of 30 yards out, by McArthur. He takes a touch, and pearls an unstoppable heatseeker into the top right. Hennessey had no chance whatsoever. That’s a stunner!
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53 min: Fabinho nicks the ball off Meyer. Palace want a free kick, but it’s not a foul. Liverpool sweep up the other end, Robertson trying to get a slice of the full-back-as-goal-hero action from 25 yards. It’s well struck but always rising over the bar.
52 min: A dreadful Sakho backpass nearly lets Firmino in. A proper toe-stub. There’s just enough spin on the ball to take it towards Hennessey, who blooters clear just in time.
50 min: A great high-speed slide tackle in midfield by Fabinho to deny Van Aanholt, who was looking to bomb upfield at full pelt. Had the Liverpool midfielder not won that, his team were a bit light at the back.
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48 min: But a third goal would do it, you’d have to think, though everyone thought that at Selhurst Park six years ago. Mane, Firmino and Salah swarm across the front of the Palace box, and slip the ball wide to Henderson. There are options in the middle but Henderson’s chip is aimless and Firmino’s started shoving everyone anyway. Relief for Palace, who looked a little open for a second there.
47 min: Van Aanholt dribbles purposefully down the left, but is eventually forced to turn tail. Palace had a few men forward there, suggesting damage limitation is very much not on their mind.
45 min 25 sec: Liverpool should be three up. Robertson swings in low from the left. Sakho decides to let the ball go past, unaware Salah is hovering behind. But Salah had assumed the defender would clear, and so makes his move towards the ball too late. It sails past harmlessly, the chance to prod home from six yards gone.
Palace get the second half underway. No changes during the break. Liverpool will kick towards the Kop in this second half. “A Big Mac used to be called a Big Mäc in Germany, before the local form was driven out by globalisation, standardisation or tyranny.” The latest in höt umlaut chat there, courtesy of Jules Winnfield Andrew Goudie.
Half-time entertainment. In the latest episode of our new Forgotten Stories podcast, hear how Northern Ireland forward John Crossan was banned from the sport for life in 1959.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace
Nothing much happens in added time, and there goes the whistle. This scoreline doesn’t flatter Liverpool; in fact they’ll wonder how they haven’t scored one or two more. They’ve hit the woodwork and certainly had the chances. Plenty of thinking for Roy Hodgson to do.
45 min: There will be two added minutes.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace (Salah 44)
Fabinho shrugs off Ayew and dinks a perfect pass down the inside-right channel. Salah drifts behind Van Aanholt, chests down the dropping ball, steps inside and clips the ball past Hennessey. Simple but beautifully executed. So much for Palace’s blessed relief.
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43 min: Palace push up as a block and enjoy some possession in the middle third. They don’t really go anywhere but it’s blessed relief.
42 min: Palace take their first shot in anger, Meyer latching onto a loose Gomez header and dribbling with purpose towards the Liverpool box. His low fizzer is always heading wide right, and it looked like Alisson had it covered anyway.
40 min: Hennessey comes carelessly racing out of his box to head clear from Mane. He sends the ball straight to Salah, who attempts to lob home from 40 yards into an empty net. Fortunately for the Palace keeper, Salah’s weak effort is always floating wide. Even if it had been on target, there was a fair chance either Hennessey or Cahill was getting back to hook clear.
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39 min: Liverpool continue to press and probe, but they can’t keep passing up these chances. Palace will be happy enough to have kept the score down, hoping to see what develops later.
37 min: Wijnaldum drags another gilt-edged chance wide, having been teed up after Salah and Mane shuttled the ball through the box from right to left. He should have two goals already. Two very poor misses. Ah well, he’ll always have Barcelona.
35 min: Firmino flicks one over his own shoulder in the hope of creating space for a shot just inside the box. It slaps Cahill on the forearm. There’s a case to be made for deliberate movement towards the ball ... but the referee’s not interested, proximity Cahill’s friend here. VAR double-checks, and isn’t in the mood to overturn. Henderson is furious.
33 min: But it’s Fabinho who takes, and skies one intended for the top left. Not quite as easy as Alexander-Arnold made it look. The Brazilian allows himself a wry smile.
32 min: Ayew concedes another free kick in a central position, 25 yards out, this time clipping Fabinho. This is Alexander-Arnold Country. He’s earned the right to another crack, surely.
31 min: Palace are playing a very compact, very deep 4-5-1. As a result, they’re really struggling to get out. Liverpool are completely dominating possession. Firmino nearly dribbles clear down the left but miscontrols when he enters the box, a stride or two away from shooting.
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29 min: Van Dijk wins a header from the resulting corner, but he’s pressurised by Cahill and slaps it high and wide. He appears to want some sort of decision from the referee, but he’s not getting anything other than: goal kick.
28 min: Kouyate bundles Wijnaldum over, just to the left of the box. From the resulting free kick, the ball’s teed up for Henderson, who whistles a shot onto the left-hand post. Ward, guarding the line, clears out for a corner under pressure.
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26 min: On the touchline, Hodgson prowls his old stomping ground with furrowed brow, nibbling his bottom lip. No doubt he’s contemplating the task now in hand: since losing here to Palace in 2017, Liverpool have taken the lead in 69 Premier League matches at Anfield ... and drawn the other nine played.
24 min: That’s Alexander-Arnold’s third Premier League goal of the season ... and drinks.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace (Alexander-Arnold 23)
After plenty of deliberation between Alexander-Arnold and Salah, the former takes. And how! He whips a curler over the Palace wall and into the top right, giving Hennessey, who was guarding the other side, no chance whatsoever. A delightful free kick.
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21 min: ... nothing much happens. Palace clear, but there’s nobody upfield to retain possession. The ball comes back towards them. Ayew nudges Van Dijk in an aerial challenge and this is a free kick, 25 yards out, in a central position.
20 min: Palace are sitting very deep, with all of their men in their own final third. Liverpool try to prise them open. Wijnaldum launches two sorties down the left, winning a corner with the second. And from that corner ...
18 min: According to Geoff Shreeves on Sky, Palace rolled the dice with Zaha, having identified a problem during the warm-up. No word on what that problem is, though.
16 min: A long Liverpool pass down the middle. Mane chests down and sends Firmino striding into space along the channel. Firmino enters the box and curls towards the bottom right, but there’s not enough pace on the shot and it’s an easy snaffle for Hennessey.
15 min: A deflated Zaha is replaced by Max Meyer and disappears straight down the tunnel with the physio. Here’s Steve Coombs, all the way from balmy one-umlaut Baden-Württemberg: “It might be stretching the point, but the locals refer to their team as Määnz (Mainz), a team for which Jürgen Klopp played and managed. Two Umlauts and two activities; not bad, eh?”
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13 min: Zaha stays on, but he’s limping. Looks like he’s just making a nuisance of himself while Palace prepare their sub. Liverpool knock it around against the ten-and-a-half men, trying to work some space.
12 min: Zaha is down, and the ref stops the game. It doesn’t look as though he’ll be able to continue.
10 min: Mane holds Ward off out on the left and magics some space out of nothing. He curls long from a tight spot on the touchline. Henderson, haring in from the other side, volleys wildly into the stand. That’s a decent chance spurned, too.
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8 min: A dreadful miss by Wijnaldum here. Henderson swings one in from the right. It’s too long for Townsend, but the Palace midfielder slices a clearance back into the mixer. It nearly drops for Salah; it does drop for Wijnaldum, six yards out, but with the goal at his mercy, he blazes wide left.
6 min: Liverpool ping it around some more. Palace stay solid, two Hodgsonian banks of four. Eventually Van Dijk gets bored and sends a long one down the middle for Salah. It’s easy pickings for Hennessey.
4 min: It’s Palace’s turn to string a few passes together, Zaha gliding down the left, Townsend going at Van Dijk on the right. No way past there either. A nice, open, free-flowing start.
2 min: Liverpool stroke it around, probing this way and that. Mane tries to release Salah down the right with a crossfield ball, but Van Aanholt sticks to Salah like glue. No way past.
Liverpool get the ball rolling. Palace will kick towards the Kop in this first half. “How’s this for a surprising pre-match stat? Hodgson has managed two clubs with umlauts in their name (Örebro and Malmö ), compared to exactly zero for his German opponent.” Peter Oh (no umlaut) connecting the dots there, ladies and gentlemen.
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The teams are out! Liverpool are in their famous red, while Palace sport their modern take on that sensational Team of the Eighties kit. You’ll Never Walk Alone rings poignantly around the empty Anfield. We’ll be off in a minute, after everyone takes a knee. Black lives matter.
... and here’s VHS legend Roy Hodgson. “The trouble with our good record at Anfield is that most of it was before I came to the club! We did play well here last year, lost fairly unluckily 4-3 with a couple of late goals that they scored, but I think records from the past belong in the past. We know we are playing the champions of England elect, it’s just a matter of time before they’re crowned champions, and we know what a fantastic season they’ve had. They score a lot of goals and don’t let many in. So if you want to come here and win you’ve got a task on your hands. It was nice and very complimentary [of Klopp to tell Hodgson about the videos]. I didn’t realise that. He certainly doesn’t need any help now!” Nothing like a managerial love-in before kick-off, eh kids.
Jurgen Klopp speaks. “People make a big mistake in underestimating the influence of Mo Salah. It’s not just the goals he scores, he makes the pitch bigger for us. It makes it easier for other players. Palace are brilliantly organised. When I was a young coach, I had videos from my former coach who was my mentor, to learn more about football. Most of them were about Arrigo Sacchi, but the others were of Roy, when he was working for Switzerland. I just told him and he liked it!”
The new normal, at least for a while. This is what the Kop will look like. There’ll be no 40,000-strong renditions of You’ll Never Walk Alone or Hodgson for England this evening.
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Four changes for Liverpool from the Merseyside derby. Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson return from injury. Joe Gomez takes over from Joel Matip in the centre of defence. Georginio Wijnaldum replaces Naby Keita in the middle of the park. Takumi Minamino drops to the bench, along with Keita. James Milner is hamstrung.
Palace make four changes as well from their easy 2-0 win at Bournemouth. Wayne Hennessey replaces Vincente Guaita in goal. Scott Dann makes way for former Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho. James McCarthy and Andros Townsend come in for Luka Milivojevic and Christian Benteke.
The teams
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Subs: Lovren, Keita, Adrian, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Origi, Jones, Elliott, Williams.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Cahill, Sakho, van Aanholt, McCarthy, Townsend, McArthur, Kouyate, Zaha, Ayew.
Subs: Milivojevic, Dann, Meyer, Henderson, Tavares, Mitchell, Pierrick, Riedewald.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
Preamble
Win tonight, and Liverpool move to within two points of the title. Three steps closer to their holy grail, and the end of a 30-year wait. That’s pretty much the long and short of it.
Whether they’ll be totally confident about doing so is another issue. Yes, they’ve won their last five games against Crystal Palace. Yes, they’ve only dropped seven points all season. Yes, they’re 20 points clear at the top while Palace are mid-table. All that’ll be why Liverpool are odds-on favourites to win tonight, while you can get tens on the visitors.
But it’s never quite as simple as that, and these teams have history. The very recent past first: Palace are on a four-game winning streak, and haven’t conceded a goal in 362 minutes of football; Liverpool by contrast have lost four and drawn one of their last six matches. As for more ancient history: that FA Cup semi in 1990, Crystanbul, and three wins at Anfield between 2015 and 2017. That 2017 match remains Liverpool’s last home defeat in the Premier League, a run that stretches back 55 games. Oh, and former boss Roy Hodgson will be in the Palace dugout, and he’s won here before with West Bromwich Albion.
Will Palace play on Liverpool’s nerves and register a shock victory? Or can Liverpool rediscover that old sensational form and serenely glide ever closer to the prize they desire more than anything? One way or another, a story will unfold here tonight. It is, my dear old MBM friends, on.
Kick off: 8.15pm.
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