Match Preview - Liverpool vs Crystal Palace - Key Battle, Teams, Prediction

Liverpool will face Crystal Palace at Anfield on Monday night.

The Premier League fixture will kick-off at 8:00pm BST. Below is a preview of the aforementioned Premier League fixture.

Key Battle

Liverpool were decent going forward against Fulham at Craven Cottage last weekend. Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah found the back of the net.

But, the Reds were poor defensively. Liverpool were really good at the back last season. Jurgen Klopp's team only conceded 26 goals in 38 Premier League fixtures.

The Reds conceded two goals to newly promoted side Fulham. So, the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson will have to lift against Crystal Palace.

Eagles winger Wilfried Zaha is capable of causing Liverpool some problems. The 29-year-old has scored 83 goals and registered 73 assists in 430 appearances for Crystal Palace's first-team.

Team News

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Thiago Alcantara will miss the match due to a hamstring injury.

However, the German has confirmed that Naby Keita is available for selection.

In team news for Crystal Palace, Eagles manager Patrick Vieira has made it clear that Michael Olise could be in the squad for the trip to Anfield.

“Michael trained all week with the team, so there is a chance that he will be with the squad,” he said.

“The other two (James McArthur and James Tomkins) it will be too short for them," he told the club's official website.

“(Nathan Ferguson) just had a setback. It’s too early to talk about, but obviously he didn’t train in the last couple of days with the team.”

Previous Meeting

Liverpool last came up against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park back in January. The Reds secured a 3-1 victory on the day.

Virgil van Dijk, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Fabinho were Liverpool's goalscorers. Despite that being the case, Klopp was not pleased with his team's performance.

"It was a bit Jekyll and Hyde football today, to be honest. We saw how good we can be – we were incredibly good in the first 35 minutes, I would say," he told the club's official website.

"Then, after an intense week, we had an away game at Arsenal that was really intense as well, and then flying back, coming here, so I don’t have a real explanation, to be honest, but intensity might be an explanation. And we became sloppy in the last line.

"The chances we gave them in the first half were pretty much produced by us, the wrong pass, bah, bah, bah.

"Then, second half, we were not compact, the first line pressed too high.

"The distance was not right, so they just played the long balls in behind; I don’t know why they were never offside, our fault of course.

"So, all of a sudden the game opened up and then you have to fight back, that’s what the boys did. We were brilliant for 35 minutes and the opposite in the rest of the game."

Prediction

Liverpool are a far better side than Crystal Palace. The Reds finished runners-up for the Premier League title last season.

The Eagles on the other hand finished in 12th-place in the table. So, if Liverpool play anywhere near their best, they should secure a comfortable victory.

The Reds, who are serial winners under Klopp, will also be looking to respond after a poor showing against Fulham.

Liverpool 2 Crystal Palace 0