Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points – but were pushed all the way by an excellent Crystal Palace to secure a 4-3 victory at Anfield.
The Reds dominated possession to start with, but fell behind when Andros Townsend finished off a well-worked Palace move on 34 minutes.
However, the game was turned on its head eight minutes after the break – Mohamed Salah latching onto a fortunate deflection to equalise before Roberto Firmino’s deflected strike trickled into the net.
James Tomkins made it 2-2 on 65 minutes with a well-placed header but Salah put Liverpool back in front when he scored on the line after Julian Speroni made a huge hash of James Milner’s effort.
Sadio Mane appeared to add gloss on the scoreline by adding a fourth in stoppage-time but Max Meyer’s struck with a minute to go to set up for a nervy closing stages but Jurgen Klopp’s men held on for the win.
So they got the result but Klopp will be disappointed with the efforts of some of his players in a game which also saw James Milner sent off for two bookable offences.
Below you can see talkSPORT.com’s Liverpool player ratings.
Alisson – 4
Not the best day for the Brazilian to concede three goals but in truth he could not have done a lot about the first two. He’ll be disappointed Meyer’s went in as he got a hand to it.
James Milner – 3
Milner was filling in at an unnatural right-back position and it showed. Palace worked well down his side to score their first and Milner was dismissed late on for two bookable offences, the latest a late tackle on Wilfried Zaha.
Joel Matip – 4
Matip came back from injury and he was a little bit sluggish at points. Had a header in the first-half that went wide but he should have done better with it.
Virgil van Dijk – 5
The Dutchman is usually a huge presence at the back but not so much this week as Palace caused problems on the break throughout.
Andy Robertson – 5
He signed a new contract this week but Robertson will admit this was not his best game in Liverpool colours. He did bag the assist for Mane’s goal though.
Fabinho – 4
Excellent ball to Milner in the build-up to the third goal, however, there will be an inquest when Klopp looks at the Reds’ marking for the second goal. Replays showed Fabinho lost his man Tomkins, who went on to score. Substituted for Adam Lallana on 87 minutes.
Jordan Henderson – 5
The captain did not have a lot of control on the midfield especially when Palace were on the break. A little too chaotic for Henderson’s liking.
Naby Keita – 3
Keita is showing plenty of effort but is very low on confidence. The Guinea international can’t seem to do anything right at the moment. He did get the assist for Firmino’s goal but was wisely taken off for Shaqiri on 71 minutes.
Mohamed Salah – 8
Where would Liverpool be without Salah? He was the match-winner against Brighton last weekend and it’s his two goals which have helped the Reds claim a precious victory. Both strikes came in slightly fortunate circumstances but not one Kopites will care about that.
Sadio Mane – 7
Mane caused a lot of problems for the Palace defence all game and eventually got rewarded for his efforts with a goal in stoppage-time. A neat finish in the corner after good work with Robertson.
Roberto Firmino – 6
The Brazilian got himself a goal but it was a little bit lucky and generally Firmino wasn’t that great.
SUB – Xherdan Shaqiri – 5
Shaqiri rightly came on at 2-2 and Liverpool found themselves in front moments later. However, the Swiss international didn’t do too much as it was very hard to adjust to such an intense game.
SUB – Adam Lallana – N/A
Came on for Fabinho but didn’t do much in his short time on the pitch.
SUB – Rafael Camacho – N/A
Brought on for Salah in stoppage-time purely for time-wasting purposes.