Liverpool move closer to City with win over Crystal Palace

Liverpool, with a hard-fought win over Crystal Palace (1-3), is closing in on Manchester City in the race for the lead, nine points behind Pep Guardiola's side.

Jürgen Klopp's side had to hold out against a very good Palace side and made good on two goals in the first half-hour from Virgil Van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, both after assists from Andy Robertson, before finishing off in the final minutes with a penalty awarded by the VAR.

The Scottish full-back set up Van Dijk to head home the first and, in the second, Oxlade-Chamberlain received a cross from Robertson, controlled and volleyed over Vicente Guaita to make it 0-2.

Crystal Palace missed their chances

Far from being in control of the game, Palace had some good chances behind Van Dijk and Joel Matip. The clearest was a one-on-one from Odsonne Edouard, who, after dribbling around Alisson, failed to hit an empty net.

In the second half, the Frenchman did have more luck. A great through ball from Jeffrey Schlupp, drawing Van Dijk in, saw Jean-Philippe Mateta stay in front of Alisson and slot unchallenged past Schlupp.

Patrick Vieira's men pressed, but Liverpool held on and Fabinho scored from eleven meters after a controversial penalty by Guaita on Diogo Jota, which was awarded by the VAR.

With the 1-3, the Anfield team left London with the three points. This leaves the Reds nine points behind Manchester City, who dropped points against Southampton. However, Klopp's men have a game in hand, so they could close the gap even further.

Klopp's post-game reactions

“We looked really sharp and ready to play in small spaces then two or three sloppy passes and the stadium is back, Palace is back and we did not start well in the second half. We had our moments but we did not control it anymore. If you lose a little bit of focus it showed how tired we could be as Palace played a really good game. We opened the door for them and they ran through.” Said the German head coach.

This defeat was part of Crystal Palace's plans, who were aware that they were underdogs to win. The group remains in the mid-lower half of the table with a certain cushion against relegation, which Newcastle is leading with 15 points.