Liverpool 4-3 Crystal Palace - 5 Talking Points, Premier League 2018-19

Crazy, crazy Liverpool eh? For Reds fans around the world, they probably wouldn't have missed this version of Jurgen Klopp's side, but in the end, the Premier League leaders got the job done with a 4-3 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield.

The Reds went behind in the first half, through an Andros Townsend goal, but stormed into a 2-1 lead in the first seven minutes of the second half, thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

James Tomkins got the visitors level with a header, but Salah's second after a Julian Speroni howler was followed by Sadio Mane seemingly put the game out of Palace's reach.

Max Meyer scored one right at the death, but Palace just didn't have enough time to haul themselves back against Liverpool's ten men, after James Milner was sent off for two bookable fouls on Wilfried Zaha.

Here are the biggest points for discussion from the game.

#5 Roy Hodgson's game-plan was spot on

It was what Palace were expected to do - keep men behind the ball, defended in a compact shape, and then spring out using the power of Zaha and Andros Townsend on the counter-attack.

Mamadou Sakho stood tall, despite his idiosyncrasies in the first half, they kept Liverpool's front three quiet, and even got themselves in the lead. They played their way through Liverpool's press beMilnerautifully. The Reds hunted as a pack to try and get the ball off James McArthur, but the Palace man somehow found his way out of it to find Patrick van Aanholt, who then moved it on for Zaha.

Zaha skinned Milner, and pulled it back for Townsend who drilled it past Alisson. They also got themselves an equaliser, after going 2-1 down, when James Tomkins headed home a Luka Milivojevic corner.

It was a similar kind of performance to the one that Palace put in against Manchester City, and they also had the little bit of luck they needed in the offensive areas. The only difference was the larger number of defensive gaffes, which ultimately cost them the game.

#4 Palace's errors cost them

Mo Salah scored his first goal just seconds into the second half

In a way, all four of Liverpool's goals could be put down to errors made by Crystal Palace players. For the first goal, once Virgil van Dijk's shot was deflected and spent that long in the air, the goalkeeper Julian Speroni should have attacked the ball and punched it away.

Instead, he dithered in between and neither charged out nor stayed on his line. That gave Salah the room to flick in a superb finish and drag Liverpool back level.

For the second Liverpool goal, it was a collective failure from the Palace defence, from the second phase of play after a Liverpool set-piece. Once Naby Keita received the ball, Firmino found himself in acres of space. He received Keita's pass in the box, and still Palace didn't deal with him well enough.

He had enough time to turn, look up, take a couple of more touches, and then took a shot that deflected off Tomkins, and into the net.

The third Liverpool goal was all down to Speroni. Fabinho's big diagonal ball from midfield found the onrushing Milner on the by-line, but his cut-back should have been comfortable for the veteran to deal with. He, instead, flapped at it and the ball fell for Salah to stroke home, from barely a couple of inches out.

Even for the fourth goal, Palace switched off expecting the whistle to go for the ball running out of play. Andy Robertson had kept the ball in play, and played it through for Mane, who made no mistake with the finish.

Liverpool were relentless and kept probing in trying to find a way through Palace, but the Reds were helped by a generous defensive showing from their visitors, at the crucial moments.

#3 Liverpool's defence fails - For once

The story of this season has been Liverpool being frugal at the back, with the spine of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker being instrumental in the Reds' defensive turnaround.

But on this afternoon at Anfield, it looked like the old Liverpool again. Generous in defence, and not defending set-pieces as well as they should.

It also didn't help the Reds that due to the injury crisis they are suffering in defensive areas, they had to play James Milner at right-back, and Wilfried Zaha could feast on him in one-on-one situations.

That was one area where Liverpool's tactics let them down. Given that Milner was not playing in his natural position, and was up against a player as dangerous as Zaha, he definitely needed more cover than was provided to him by his midfielders.

This 4-2-3-1 setup that Klopp has employed does relieve his wingers of some of their defensive duties, while expecting the two holding midfielders to cover for the full-backs.

Given that, it was rather surprising that both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, who were otherwise excellent, didn't provide Milner with the cover he'd have so craved.

Van Dijk, too, was not his usual self. He had ZERO ground duels on the day, which sort of tells you what the Palace approach was. But, even with the aerial duels, in which he's generally so imperious, there was a little bit of uncertainty from the big Dutchman, who was a little ponderous.

Alisson, too, may have done much better than he did for Meyer's goal, which gave Palace a glimmer of hope in the dying seconds.

In the second half, especially, Joel Matip could be held at fault, too, for jumping into too many tackles too early, and not winning the ball.

In the end, the Liverpool attack bailed the defence out, returning the favour for the many clean-sheets which have pulled the Reds through, despite below-par offensive showings.

#2 Andy Robertson's stock keeps on rising

Robertson was the best Liverpool player on show

The Liverpool left-back has recently had some people call him the best in his position in world football. While that may be a bit of stretch at this point, Robertson is doing his reputation absolutely no harm.

With Naby Keita ahead of him on the flank bereft of confidence and doing very little at either end of the pitch, it has been hugely important for Robertson to have the kind of impact that he has been having in recent months for the Reds.

Even in this game, Robertson was non-stop. Heh, Robertson, non-stop, Michael Owen, is that you? But it's true, that is the one word which most aptly describes the Scot.

It is, as Jose Mourinho said after Manchester United played at Anfield this season, a pain for oppositions to watch Robertson just keep on going the way he does.

There was one moment from this game, which symbolises Robertson as the player that he is. Most other players would've let the ball roll out of play when he stretched every sinew of his body to keep it in, and roll it towards Mane, who scored Liverpool's fourth goal of the game, that eventually provided them the insurance of the victory.

He's just signed a new five-year deal with Liverpool this past week, and he's slowly but surely becoming one of the club's most prized assets.

#1 Liverpool's luck doesn't seem to be running out

Jurgen Klopp's men have had huge chunks of luck

It is a well-repeated cliche that you need a little bit of luck over the course of the season to be champions. If that has to ring true this season again, then Liverpool might well be the beneficiaries.

Despite not being at their best during a lot of games this season, the Reds have somehow managed to get the job done. They have now won all 16 games they've played this season against teams outside the top 6, despite them not played to the high level we know they are capable of.

Even in this game, there was a huge slice of luck involved in Liverpool's victory. Van Dijk's wayward shot deflecting Salah's way for their first goal, Firmino's shot deflecting in for the second, Speroni's error for the third - all huge chunks of good fortune.

Liverpool, for a large part of this season, are playing like champions, but it would be daft to ignore the large chunk of good fortune they've found for themselves along the way.

Klopp will only be hoping that they haven't used up all their luck just yet.

Edited by Kingshuk Kusari