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Crystal Palace vs Liverpool news: Reds can make more capital gains at Selhurst Park

Liverpool make a quickfire return to London on Sunday and can follow up their excellent win over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup by beating Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

Crystal Palace won't have happy memories of this fixture last year when they were smashed 7-0 by a rampant Liverpool.

But that was then and this is now and Eagles fans will be confident that Patrick Vieira can do a better job than Roy Hodgson did of keeping the Reds at bay.
Palace finished the last round of fixtures in 11th place while Jurgen Klopp's visitors sit second and now have a Wembley date to look forward to after beating Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Thursday night.

When: Sunday, January 23, 14:00 GMT

Where: Selhurst Park

Follow this game via our score centre

Who is the ref for Crystal Palace vs Liverpool

Kevin Friend is the man in the middle at Selhurst Park.

The Leicestershire official has yet to take charge of a Liverpool game this season although he was on duty for Palace's 1-0 defeat at Leeds in November when he booked eight players (three from Palace).

The stats say he's quick to reach for his pocket as he's flashed just under six yellow cards per match in the top flight this season.

Season stats 2021/22: Premier League matches (7), yellows (41), red (1), penalties (4)

Recent form

Palace are in reasonable form with a win (home to Norwich), a draw (away at Brighton last time) and a defeat (3-2 at home against West Ham) in their last three Premier League outings.

They also won at Millwall in the third round of the FA Cup during that run, coming from 1-0 down at the break to triumph 2-1.

Liverpool have had to cope without Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita since the trio left for the Africa Cup of Nations in early January.

But they've done well, winning three of their four matches and conceding just once in the process.

They beat Arsenal 2-0 on aggregate (0-0 at home, 2-0 away) in their Carabao Cup semi, defeated Shrewsbury 4-1 at Anfield in the FA Cup and eased to a 3-0 home win over Brentford in their only Premier League outing since the 2-2 draw with Chelsea on January 2.

Crystal Palace and Liverpool players in form

Connor Gallagher fired in his seventh Premier League goal of the season in the 1-1 draw at Brighton last Friday.

It looked set to be the winner until a late own goal denied Palace. Gallagher's goals include strikes against two other members of the top four - Manchester City and West Ham.

For Liverpool, Diogo Jota had the task of stepping up with Salah and Mane away and he did just that with two excellent goals in the 2-0 win over Arsenal on Thursday.
As well as that cup brace, he's also the second highest scorer in the Premier League this season with 10 goals.

Trent Alexander-Arnold set both goals up for Jota and the rampaging right-back now has 14 assists in 24 matches in all competitions this season.

Last three meetings

Liverpool 3-0 Crystal Palace (September 18, 2021)

Liverpool moved top of the early-season table with 13 points from five games as they swept aside Palace at Anfield.
Palace started well but Mane's 100th goal for Liverpool put the hosts in front just before half-time and late goals from Salah (78) and Keita (89) sealed a comfortable win.
Mane was scoring for the ninth straight game against Palace so the Eagles will be relieved he won't be in the Liverpool team on Sunday.

Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League - May 23, 2021)

After an injury-ravaged season and rash of home defeats that left their Champions League qualification in serious doubt, Liverpool's late push saw them clinch third place thanks to a Mane double.

After slipping to eighth in March, the Reds won their final five Premier League games and completed the job here with a goal either side of the interval in a match watched by 10,000 fans at Anfield as Covid rules were relaxed a little.

Mane prodded home in the 36th minute to ease nerves and then wrapped up victory with a deflected strike after 74. The win meant Liverpool won their two games against Palace in 2020/21 by an aggregate of 9-0.

Crystal Palace 0-7 Liverpool (Premier League - December 19, 2020)

This could have been a tricky test but, instead, Liverpool went mad and scored an away top-flight win by a margin of seven goals for the first time in their history. It put them five points clear at the top but this was to prove the Reds' peak moment and their form dipped badly over the next few months.
Takumi Minamino set them on the way inside three minutes and they were 3-0 up at the break through further goals from Mane and Roberto Firmino.

Firmino netted again after the break, Jordan Henderson fired home and Salah got in on the act with two late strikes as Liverpool seemed to be holding their own goal-of-the-month competition.

Past ten matches

Crystal Palace wins: 1
Draws: 0
Liverpool wins: 9
Crystal Palace scored: 7
Liverpool scored: 28

Managers' thoughts

Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira on Liverpool without Salah and Mane: "This is a team. It's not just about those two players they're missing. Obviously with those two they're stronger but there are still players playing really well with fantastic talents.

"The best way to describe this team before talking about the individual talent is as a team. This is a strong team."

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said: "They changed and improved under Patrick, I have to say. They look like a really stable team now.

"I think system-wise didn't change too much, 4-3-3 or whatever, but it's a good team. It's a really good Premier League team, with a few unlucky results so we expect a really tough game."

Predicted Crystal Palace vs Liverpool teams

Palace welcome back Jordan Ayew after Ghana's early exit from the African Cup of Nations but Vieira may not throw him straight back into the starting XI.

Wilfried Zaha and Cheikhou Kouyate are still away on international duty in Cameroon, while Palace are also without injured duo James McArthur and James Tomkins.

Liverpool still have Salah, Mane and Keita away on Africa Cup of Nations duty after their respective sides, Egypt, Senegal and Guinea, all made the knockout stages.

The Reds will assess the fitness of Joel Matip (taken off at half-time against Arsenal as a precaution) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (ankle) while Klopp revealed a few others have knocks and need checking on.

Possible Crystal Palace line-up: Guita, Ward, Mitchell, Guehi, Andersen, Olise, Eze, Hughes, Schlupp, Gallagher, Edouard

Possible Liverpool starting line-up: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Van Dijk, Konate, Henderson, Fabinho, Jones, Minamino, Jota, Firmino

Crystal Palace vs Liverpool prediction

Palace have been decent at home this season, losing just two of their 11 fixtures.
But Liverpool are on a high after reaching the Carabao Cup final and they can enjoy another winning outing in the capital after beating Arsenal on Thursday night.
Planet Sport prediction: Crystal Palace 1-3 Liverpool

READ MORE: How tall is Jurgen Klopp and how does he measure up in a league table of Premier League managers?

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