Liverpool won 3-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday, and the scoreline flatters them. Crystal Palace had chances to lead before Alexis Mac Allister's header broke the deadlock five minutes before half-time, and by the time Eddie Nketiah tucked away a penalty with the last kick of the game the contest had long since gone. Alisson Becker, with six saves, was the reason for that.
For Palace the afternoon ends with them bottom of the Premier League and a fourth straight defeat on the board. Seven points from thirty under Pierre Sage is not a record any head coach survives for long, and the soft applause that followed him down the tunnel at full time said as much as any chant would have.
Three goals that arrived at Liverpool's convenience
The opener came from a free-kick routine, worked neatly enough that Mac Allister had the space to head it properly in the 40th minute. Nine minutes into the second half Bradley Barcola picked out Florian Wirtz, whose finish was tidy rather than spectacular. Alexander Isak had been anonymous for most of the game before scoring the third in the 89th, his seventh league goal of the season, with the sort of calm that suggests he had been watching rather than struggling.
Nketiah's penalty, awarded after Milos Kerkez was penalised, arrived in the 95th minute. Palace had waited the whole afternoon for a goal and got one when it could not change anything.
Sage is running out of road at Selhurst Park
He may feel hard done by. Yeremy Pino rattled the Liverpool crossbar from close range in the first half. Jorgen Strand Larsen had a goal ruled out for offside. Alisson was made to work repeatedly. Against Tottenham last time out, Palace played nearly eighty minutes with ten men after Jean-Philippe Mateta's red card and lost 2-0, which is not quite the picture of a side being outclassed every week.
But once Liverpool went ahead the stadium emptied of noise and Palace heads visibly dropped. Following Oliver Glasner was always going to be a difficult inheritance after an FA Cup and Conference League double. Whether Sage is still in charge when Palace travel to Coventry City on 21 November is now a board decision rather than a footballing one.
Iraola's side are better on the road than at home
Liverpool move up to fourth, nine points behind Arsenal and four behind second-placed Brighton. Both of their league defeats this season have come at Anfield, while they have now won four in a row away from Merseyside and remain unbeaten on the road. That is an odd shape for a Liverpool team, and Andoni Iraola will know it.
Midweek brought an underwhelming loss at Fenerbahce, so the three points matter more than the manner of them. The frailties have not gone anywhere. A Liverpool side of a few seasons ago would have buried a Palace team this short of confidence long before the 89th minute, and would not have needed its goalkeeper to be the best player on the pitch.
Match facts: Crystal Palace 1-3 Liverpool, Selhurst Park. Alexis Mac Allister 40; Florian Wirtz 54 (Bradley Barcola assist); Alexander Isak 89; Eddie Nketiah 90+5 pen. Palace bottom on seven points from ten games; Liverpool up to fourth, nine points behind Arsenal.
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