Liverpool win 3-1 at Crystal Palace: Mac Allister, Wirtz and Isak score and Palace drop to the bottom of the table

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Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday 8 November, in the Premier League’s 15:00 CET kick-off. Alexis Mac Allister headed Liverpool in front five minutes before half-time, Florian Wirtz scored early in the second half and Alexander Isak added a third in the 89th minute. Eddie Nketiah scored a penalty for Palace in stoppage time. It was Palace’s fourth league defeat in a row, and with Manchester United and Sunderland both taking points on Sunday, they finish the weekend bottom of the table. Liverpool, who had lost their previous two games, are fourth.

How it happened

Palace had the better of the first half-hour, according to their own match report. Yeremy Pino hit the crossbar in the 18th minute, and in the 33rd Jørgen Strand Larsen put the ball in the net, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside after a check by the video assistant referee (VAR, the official who reviews key decisions on a screen). Alisson, Liverpool’s goalkeeper, then pushed away a Daichi Kamada volley in the 38th minute.

Liverpool scored two minutes later, against the run of play in the words of Palace’s report: Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick was glanced in by Mac Allister. ESPN, which carries the Associated Press report, says Mac Allister nodded home the free-kick. Alisson saved again from Adam Wharton’s flicked header before the break, and Liverpool led 1-0 at half-time.

Wirtz made it 2-0 in the 54th minute, placing his finish past Dean Henderson. Palace pressed late on: Pino had a shot blocked from an Osorio pull-back in the 76th minute, Nketiah skewed a chance over a minute later, and Henderson kept Palace in it when he denied Isak one on one in the 86th minute. Three minutes after that Isak’s shot deflected past Henderson for 3-1. In the fifth minute of stoppage time Nketiah scored from the penalty spot after Osorio was fouled, as Palace’s report puts it. Neither report mentions a red card.

Palace started with Henderson in goal, Chris Richards, Axel Disasi, Jefferson Lerma, Óscar Mingueza and Tyrick Mitchell in defence, Wharton and Kamada in midfield, Pino and Timber wide, and Strand Larsen up front. Liverpool started with Alisson; Araújo, Virgil van Dijk, Jacquet and Milos Kerkez; Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Cody Gakpo, Barcola and Isak. Neither report carries a quote from Pierre Sage, Palace’s head coach, or from Andoni Iraola, Liverpool’s.

What it changes

Palace have seven points from ten games: two wins, one draw and seven defeats, with a goal difference of minus 14. They are 20th, one point behind Sunderland and Manchester United, who have eight each, and two behind Coventry City and Nottingham Forest in 16th and 17th. Palace’s own report says Sage’s side were looking for a first Premier League win in four; ESPN calls it a fourth straight league defeat.

Liverpool have 18 points from ten games, five wins, three draws and two defeats. They are fourth, two points above Chelsea, who lost 1-0 at Sunderland, three behind Manchester City and nine behind Arsenal, the leaders. The result ended a run of two defeats, 1-0 at home to Arsenal in the league and 3-2 at Fenerbahçe in the Champions League. The international break follows: the fixture list in our data has no club match in the next week.

What the market said

A betting price is a crowd’s opinion written as a number, and dividing 1 by the price gives a rough chance. The last price BettingBeast’s feed captured before kick-off, at 14:14 CET, made Liverpool the clear favourite at 1.59, about a 63% chance. Palace were 6.23, about 16%, and the draw 4.75, about 21%. Liverpool won. The market had barely moved since the feed first carried the game, on Saturday at 14:22 CET, when Liverpool were 1.59 and Palace 5.96. The goals line at the close was 3.5, with over at 2.29 and under at 1.75; the game had four goals.

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