Crystal Palace 1-3 Liverpool: Isak Scores & Alisson Shines In Away Win

Liverpool headed down to South London to take on a struggling Crystal Palace side in the Reds' final game before a two-week international break.

Andoni Iraola's side went into this game off the back of a loss against Premier League leaders Arsenal and a poor showing away in Istanbul against Fenerbahce, which resulted in a 3-2 defeat.

So, with both teams desperate for three points, who would prevail in this Sunday afternoon clash at Selhurst Park?

Liverpool were the team that tried to impose themselves on the game early on, with a couple shots from Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai forcing Dean Henderson into some routine saves.

But it was the home side that had the best chance from the opening 25 minutes of the game, with Yeremy Pino slamming his shot from close range against the crossbar, a huge let-off for LFC.

As the half progressed, Iraola's side was facing similar issues to what they had all season so far, and that is a lack of creativity and clear-cut chances.

It was clear that Crystal Palace's game plan was to be resolute defensively, try to be physically dominant and hit the Reds on the counter-attack.

The Eagles thought they had opened the scoring just after half-hour, with Strand Larsen finishing from close range following a series of sloppy defensive errors, but fortunately for the Merseyside club, Larsen was in an offside position.

Barcola had a glorious opportunity up the other end just minutes later, after Szoboszlai picked him out at the back post, completely unmarked. But the £123 million player skied the shot from about eight yards out.

Crystal Palace were well and truly in this game, with Kamada having his volley from the edge of the six-yard box saved by Alisson Becker, a top save from the Brazilian, keeping the score 0-0.

A breakthrough would come in the 40th minute from a set-piece delivery for LFC. Szoboszlai whipped the ball into the penalty area; Mac Allister lost his marker and ran to the near post to place a free header beyond the helpless Dean Henderson, one-nil to the away side going into half-time.

Crystal Palace came out in the second half looking much the better side, with some tidy passing sequences and were threatening to cause the Reds' defence some major issues.

However, Bradley Barcola would combine with Florian Wirtz to put Liverpool two-nil up, with the French winger running in behind down the right-hand side, crossing the ball towards the edge of the box where Wirtz found himself free and able to slot his shot past the goalkeeper.

The Reds would then prioritise managing the game and trying to see out the two-goal lead that they had, with Iraola making a double change, bringing on Victor Munoz and Trey Nyoni for Barcola and Szoboszlai.

The more that Crystal Palace tried to push forward, the more space there was behind for the rapid LFC attack, and they made the home side pay.

A quick breakaway led by Victor Munoz, who found Florian Wirtz. He then laid the ball off to Alexander Isak, who chopped inside and passed the ball into the back of the net, three-nil.

Eddie Nketiah would net a late penalty to make it 3-1, given away by Milos Kerkez, but it would mean nothing in the end, and Liverpool would head into the international break with another three points.