A week that had brought Liverpool two league setbacks ended more cheerfully in south London. Andoni Iraola’s side left Selhurst Park with a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace, moving into fourth, nine points adrift of Arsenal at the summit. The hosts, with seven points from ten outings, dropped to the foot of the table.
The breakthrough arrived in the 40th minute from a rehearsed dead-ball move. Dominik Szoboszlai shaped the kick toward the near upright and Alexis Mac Allister met it with a glancing header that beat Dean Henderson. That made five league goals for the Argentine this term, already matching the haul he produced across the whole of last season. Palace had reasons to feel hard done by: Yeremy Pino had smashed an effort against the woodwork, and Jorgen Strand Larsen — selected because Jean-Philippe Mateta was serving a suspension — had a tap-in cancelled for offside.
Early in the second period Florian Wirtz made it two. Bradley Barcola galloped down the right flank and laid the ball across; the German, so often accused of lacking a finishing touch since arriving from Bayer Leverkusen, placed his shot carefully. It was the first time he had scored in the league this campaign and only the sixth such strike since he joined from Germany. Alexander Isak had barely been involved, and even spurned one late chance, before he wrapped the match up in the 89th minute, stepping inside after Wirtz released him on the break and slamming in league goal number seven.
The home side never quite folded. BBC Sport counted six stops by Alisson as Palace kept knocking. Their solitary reply arrived with the last action, Eddie Nketiah converting from the spot after Milos Kerkez had caught substitute Dario Osorio.
That late penalty will not ease the heat on Pierre Sage. Appointed in the summer as Oliver Glasner’s successor, he has now overseen four successive league defeats. Nobody in the division has lost their job yet this season, but chairman Steve Parish will spend the international pause hearing the same question: does he stay loyal, or make a change?
