Premier League leaders, Liverpool, will look to extend the gap at the top to seven-points with a win at Anfield against visiting Crystal Palace on Saturday 19 January. With Manchester City not playing until Sunday, the Reds know they can put pressure on City, as they are asked to play catch-up for a second week in a row.
liverpool v crystal palace
>After Liverpool lost to City, their first league defeat of the season, and were then knocked out of the FA Cup at Wolves, they faced a stern test of their title winning credentials at Brighton last weekend, but they came through it with a narrow 1-0 win.

Crystal Palace are down in fourteenth place, just four-points above the relegation zone. They have won two of their last five fixtures, but both of these were on the road. They recorded a sensational 3-2 success at the Etihad Stadium to inflict Man City’s only home defeat, before they won 2-0 at Wolves. Off the back of those two results, the Eagles will travel to Merseyside with nothing to fear, which should make for an entertaining game.

However, Liverpool will see this as an excellent opportunity to pick up maximum points and maintain their push for the Premier League title.    

Team news – Liverpool      

Manager, Jurgen Klopp, will have been delighted to get back to winning ways so quickly at Brighton last week, and would have loved to name the same side that secured a crucial 1-0 win. However, a knee injury will rule out Trent Alexander-Arnold, so Klopp may call up Alberto Moreno to replace him.

Fabinho has been covering at centre-back as the Reds go through a defensive injury crisis, but Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren could be fit enough to return. Georginio Wijnaldum is also expected to miss out with a knee injury, so Naby Keita or James Milner might come back in to the starting eleven.

Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino, and Sadio Mane will once again lead the attacking threat.  

Team news – Crystal Palace

Former Liverpool manager, Roy Hodgson, has a goalkeeping crisis to deal with, as both Guaita and Wayne Hennessey are struggling to be fit. That means he might need to turn to veteran, Julian Speroni, or one of the inexperienced pair of Dion Henry and Joe Tupper.

Hodgson is likely to stick with his first choice back four of Mamadou Sakho, James Tomkins, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Patrick van Aanholt, who will have their work cut out at Anfield.

There may be changes in midfield as Palace look to stifle the Liverpool threat, and Jeffrey Schlupp could return to the starting line-up to help the goal shy Eagles. Wilfred Zaha and Andros Townsend will likely start, to offer some pace in attack.  

Head to head

Saturday’s game will be the 54th meeting between the two sides, who first met in an FA Cup tie on 8 January 1938. The game finished 0-0, but Liverpool would win the replay 3-1 four days later at Anfield.

The first league meeting between the two clubs didn’t happen until 1969, with Liverpool winning the League Division One fixture 3-1 at Palace, before winning the reverse fixture at home, 3-0.

Crystal Palace’s first win against the Reds happened in 1971 when they won 1-0 at home, but they would then not beat Liverpool again until 1990.

One of the most famous games between the clubs occurred at Anfield on 12 September when Liverpool ran out 9-0 winners. However, Palace would gain revenge a year later in one of the most dramatic FA Cup semi-finals ever. The Eagles sensationally beat Liverpool 4-3 to reach the FA Cup final for the first time in their history.

The first Premier League meeting between the clubs ended in a 5-0 win for Liverpool at Anfield, but Palace would draw the reverse fixture 1-1 at Selhurst Park. Liverpool have won the last four league meetings between the two sides, the last being earlier this season when the Reds ran out 2-0 winners in London, thanks to goals from James Milner and Sadio Mane.      

The overall record between the two clubs stands at 28 wins for Liverpool, 14 wins for Crystal Palace, and 11 draws.

Prediction and betting tips

Despite two excellent results on the road recently, it is hard to see Crystal Palace leaving Anfield with anything to show for their efforts. They struggle to score goals so will be reliant on keeping Liverpool at bay. However, the Reds are in superb form at home and if they can get an early goal, they should run out comfortable winners.

Get Liverpool to win 3-0 @11/2 with BetBright

Xherdan Shaqiri to score anytime is 11/10 with NoviBet

Over 1.5 first half goals is 6/5 with MansionBet