Premier League: Eagles will test Liverpool’s Title Hopes

Crystal Palace vs Liverpool

The Premier League title race is still alive and kicking folks, but the chief chaser Liverpool can’t afford many more slip ups, and they will have a serious test when they face Crystal Palace in their South London cauldron on Sunday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side beat Brentford last week, a first win in four in the Premier League and that left them 11 points behind Manchester City with a game in hand, while Patrick Vieira’s Eagles are gliding along quite nicely in 11^th place with just one defeat in the last four. They come into the game on the back of a 1-1 draw away to Brighton, while Liverpool have a second leg Carabao Cup game against Arsenal to complete on Thursday night.  

When the Reds visited Selhurst Park last season they handed out a 7-0 thrashing to their hosts, but with the Eagles having more time to prepare and well drilled by Vieira I’m happy to say, right now, that isn’t going to happen again on Sunday!

Talking Points

Gallagher is an exciting talent

Vieira has made good use of loan deals and young players this season and the Eagles are a more exciting prospect than in recent years. Former boss Roy Hodgson did a fine job to keep Palace in the top flight but the new man is looking to the future. 

Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher has scored seven goals in 18 appearances and he has been the Eagles’ player of the season. The 21 year old has quick feet, a mature football brain and the ability to create and score with very little room to play with. It’s an unusual sight to see Wilfried Zaha knocked off the Palace leading scorer list; the Ivorian star has five goals and he won’t be adding to that tally on Sunday as he is one of the Eagles’ players still at the African Cup of Nations, along with Jordan Ayew and Cheikhou Kouyate. But former Paris Saint Germain trainee Odsonne Edouard is available and he will also test the Liverpool defence.

The Eagles have had a strong set of Premier League 2020 resultsat home, winning four drawing five and losing only twice at Selhurst Park and when they are on song, the atmosphere there is one of the most hostile in the Premier League.  

Reds’ squad players are primed and ready

Liverpool have a big squad and Jurgen Klopp has the luxury of being able to rotate without massively diluting the quality, even though his team has lost the services of strikers Mo Salah and Sadio Mane to the African Cup of Nations and midfield ace Thiago Alcantara remains sidelined. 

They moved back up to second place in the league table thanks to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Brentford at Anfield on Sunday, as midfielders Fabinho and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain scored, before striker Takumi Minamino added a third. Oxlade Chamberlain went off injured and will be unavailable for the trip to South London so there could be a start for Curtis Jones.

In the absence of Thiago, Liverpool still have the formidable midfield partnership of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, while Diogo Jota, with ten goals, and Roberto Firmino are a class act up front.   

At the back Virgil Van Dijk is a colossus and wing backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson are back to their best. This is a squad dripping with quality and the last time they were on the road, Jurgen Klopp’s played out a brilliant 2-2 draw with title rivals Chelsea. Since then Thomas Tuchel’s Blues have dropped more points and, following Manchester City’s defeat of Chelsea last week, Liverpool are realistically the only genuine threat to the Sky Blues’ title hopes.

The Premier League 2022 betting odds are firmly behind Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions but the Merseysiders have not given up the chase yet.

History

Liverpool have won 18 of the 28 matches with Palace over the past three decades while the Eagles have won seven and there have been just three draws.

Palace have had little luck in this fixture in recent times, failing to beat the Reds on the last ten occasions, in fact Liverpool have won the last four, scoring 16 goals without conceding, including that 7-0 drubbing in December 2020 as Salah and Firmino both helped themselves to a brace.    

Betting Tip

	Crystal Palace vs Liverpool	Liverpool Asian Handicap -1.00 @ 1.99
	January 23, 22:00 (GMT+8)

At SBOTOP odds of 5.41 to win the Eagles are nicely priced to spring a surprise on the Reds, while the draw is at odds of 3.82 and Klopp’s men are hot favourites at 1.54.

While the hosts have youth and vibrancy on their side, their visitors have the big guns which can shoot them down, and they need to keep firing at this crucial stage of the campaign.   

 

●●●

CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS

Stay updated with everything sports and betting.

Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.