Manager Jurgen Klopp says he has “no problem that Liverpool wasn’t brilliant” during their hard-fought win at Crystal Palace.
Roberto Firmino scored a winner five minutes from time as the Reds maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League
The Brazil striker poked in from a corner to restore his side’s lead three minutes after it looked as if Wilfried Zaha had rescued a point for the Eagles.
Zaha’s 82nd-minute goal was his first of the season and cancelled out Sadio Mane’s 10th goal of the campaign just after half-time.
But the Palace winger also wasted a great chance late on to score a second equaliser when he blazed over from close range.
Klopp said: “We know it’s a tough place to come to and we weren’t compact enough in the first half. In a game like this, you have to make sure you are ready to fight for the result.
“We are not out there to show that we invented football, because we didn’t. We have a job to do and hopefully, we can continue.”
Liverpool, who rested Mohamed Salah, have now gone 30 games unbeaten in the Premier League and have dropped only two points in the league all season.
But they were also helped when Palace defender James Tomkins had a goal ruled out in first-half stoppage time by the video assistant referee after Jordan Ayew was adjudged to have fouled Dejan Lovren.
With Klopp deciding to keep Salah on the bench following an ankle problem, the timing of Firmino’s scrappy winner was immaculate.
Not only did it end his run of nine games without a goal, but it also meant Klopp could change his intention to throw Salah onto the pitch to help his side find a winner.
Late goals are becoming a trademark of Liverpool’s season and the winner should not have come as a surprise given the league leaders have claimed more points with goals after the 85th minute than any other Premier League team this term.
Following an international break where many of their players were in action, they demonstrated their resilience as they came under fire from a Palace side who tested Alisson on several occasions and should have opened the scoring when Ayew skewed wide with a first-half chance.
The visitors were however far from their best, with Trent Alexander-Arnold having an erratic day and Palace wingers Zaha and Andros Townsend regularly causing the visiting defence problems.
But with Virgil van Dijk typically solid, Mane continued his incredible scoring run against Palace with his eighth goal in 10 league games against the Eagles.
That was before Firmino, who had a relatively quiet game, proved his value with a fourth goal of the season to earn a fifth successive win over Palace.
Defeat for Roy Hodgson’s side was their fourth in five games during a tough run of games against clubs in the upper echelons of the table.
Having faced Manchester City, Arsenal, second-placed Leicester and Chelsea before playing Liverpool, they now travel to sixth-placed Burnley next weekend.
But with more composure from Zaha they could easily have earned a draw that their play in an evenly-balanced game deserved.
The home supporters were understandably aggrieved by the VAR decision that went against their side, as Kevin Friend had awarded the goal after Tomkins nodded in unmarked at the back post from a free-kick.
Replays, however, showed Ayew appeared to push Lovren in the back as the Liverpool defender shaped to head the ball.
That incident was just before the break and Mane scored four minutes after it, so Hodgson will take heart that his players’ heads did not drop after those two blows in quick succession.
Indeed they were always a threat to Klopp’s side and substitute Jeffrey Schlupp had Alisson scrambling to make a fine save before Zaha’s fine strike ended his drought at Selhurst Park that stretched back to 9 February.
The fact the Eagles equalised so late on but could not earn a point will be the biggest disappointment to the former Liverpool and England manager.
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Source – BBC
