Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
The last time these two sides met Christian Benteke was embroiled in a diving row as he was awarded a penalty in injury time from which he subsequently scored to put his then employers Liverpool 2-1 up to give them a dramatic win at Selhurst Park.
Well Alan Pardew obviously forgot all about over the Summer as Christian Benteke swapped Merseyside for South London in a £32m move to spearhead Palace’s attack. Benteke has gone someway to getting Pardew’s forgiveness with a string of crucial goals already this season and he will look to add to that tally with the visit of Liverpool this evening.
Jurgen Klopp’s men sit third in the Premier League table and if it wasn’t for their adversity to clean sheets then they would be sitting top right now (albeit only on goal difference), in every league game that Klopp’s men have won they have failed to keep a clean sheet. It’s only the bore draw against Manchester United a couple of weeks ago which saw Liverpool’s net not breached.
But that gung-ho style of football is not only winning admirers but it’s winning points as well and it’s those points that have put Liverpool very seriously in the title mix for this season. It seems as if the Klopp transformation is all but complete at Anfield.
Last week saw them win 2-1 at home to West Brom, goals from Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane secured a deserved victory over The Baggies but conceded a late goal from Gareth McAuley to miss out on going top of the Premier League.
That late goal from McAuley would have obviously drawn some ire from Klopp as Liverpool missed out on sitting at the summit of the Premier League for the first time since the former Dortmund manager took charge. But on the whole he will be delighted with how his side have been playing in this first quarter of the season.
They travel to Palace knowing that if results go their way they could go top but they also know that if they don’t they could drop down to as low as fourth by the end of the night or even 5th come the end of the weekend, such are the fine margins at present.
Palace did have an impressive September but unfortunately October hasn’t been as prosperous with a run of three games without a win following 3 straight wins. That run has now seen them slip out of the top half of the table as Pardew’s men find themselves 11th.
Last week they were soundly beaten by champions Leicester with them going 3-0 down to Claudio Ranieri’s side, Yohan Cabaye scored a consolation for the Londoners and Palace pressurised the hosts in the final five minutes as they attempted an unlikely comeback.
But ultimately they came away with nothing and they will hope that they put up more of a fight when Klopp’s rock and roll band of footballers come to town. Palace seem to be blowing hot and cold as of late, is this going to be another warm jet or the continuation of the cold streak.
I think Liverpool are looking pretty imperious as of late and although I think they will once again concede, I still think that they will come away from Selhurst Park with all three points. As to where they will be in the league well that depends on the other teams around them but it’s an away win for me.
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