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Will Liverpool’s Rise Continue?

In the wake of another series of fantastic Premier League action last night, we’re all set to continue that trend throughout both today and tomorrow as the remaining top flight sides round off the second matchday of fixtures. One such game that will have many eyes on it is the clash between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, which always tends to be a fixture that’s riddled with excitement from the first minute until the very last. There’s no guarantee that we’ll be blessed with such a game again, but in the wake of some of their absolute classics over the years, we’re choosing to believe it’ll happen.

Whilst we do want to talk about more recent interactions between the two we can’t go on without referencing the now infamous (for Reds fans) game back in May 2014, when Liverpool surrendered a three-goal lead with just over 10 minutes remaining against the Eagles to all but confirm that they would not be winning the Premier League title despite leading the race for weeks on end.

Alas, in recent times Liverpool have been able to live up to their reputation of being a ‘big club’ a little bit more, with three consecutive wins to their name in all competitions. They lead the overall head to head rankings by a total of 27-14, and while that may mean absolutely nothing when they come to square off on Monday night, it’s worth pointing out that history is somewhat on their side.

Now then, to the teams themselves. It’s no secret that the Reds are on a quite simply tremendous run of form, dating back all the way to their UEFA Champions League final defeat against Real Madrid at the end of last season. They may have come up short against arguably the greatest football club of all time, but when they look back on the experience of progressing to the final itself, they’ll realise just how important it was not only for themselves – but also for the beautiful City of Liverpool.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we’ve got Crystal Palace, who are being led by former Reds boss Roy Hodgson. His career has certainly been a little bit hit or miss in recent years, especially with Liverpool and England, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a great manager in the realms of football history – and his tenure with the Eagles has proven that. He’s an efficient and driven guy who hasn’t lost an ounce of his passion for the game, and as you can clearly see, that’s led the club back to the brink of becoming a top half team after initially seeming like certainties for relegation last season.

Both teams were able to start the season off as brightly as they could’ve hoped, with Liverpool, in particular, making a real statement at the expense of West Ham United. The London-based club were seemingly very confident of what they could achieve this season and yet, within 90 minutes, they were reminded of the different levels involved with competing at this level. Liverpool were utterly ruthless and proved that under Jurgen Klopp, the days of them losing games that they really should’ve won are well and truly over.

Palace, on the other hand, did well to weather an early storm from a Fulham side who proved that they belong in the Premier League – at least, they did for the first portion of the game. Their experience helped them out of a tricky situation as they steadied the tide, came forward in numbers, and methodically broke the Cottagers down in what was a really impressive display. Under Hodgson, they really do appear to be firing on all cylinders, proving that the back half of the 2017/18 season wasn’t a fluke.

In terms of expectations, both teams will be ensuring that they don’t allow things to spin too far out of control because they’ve still got to manage things in a realistic way. There’s no doubting the fact that both clubs’ fanbases are going to be very excited about what they have the potential to accomplish, but at the same time, we’re only one game into the campaign. A lot can change and Monday night is going to be so, so important, regardless of what the final result ends up being.

Crystal Palace will probably look towards the top half as a good benchmark, and while Hodgson isn’t getting any younger, we still think he’d continue to lead them next season so long as there’s the possibility of them maybe sneaking into the Europa League spots – kind of like what he was able to pull off with Fulham. Liverpool fans probably won’t be quite as conservative given their position, and can you blame them? They easily serve as the biggest threat to Manchester City repeating as Premier League champions, and we all know that Klopp is going to be drilling that idea into his squad’s mind.

In terms of the team news this is going to be a big day for Wilfried Zaha, as a goal would ensure that he officially becomes Crystal Palace’s all time top goalscorer in the Premier League. Zaha, who recently signed a new contract with the club, has made no secret of his love for Palace and it’d be a great accomplishment for him personally if he is able to find the back of the net tomorrow night. We want to see it, casual fans want to see it, and Zaha himself thoroughly deserves it.

Max Meyer will be hoping that he can edge his way into the starting XI for his debut, with Hodgson having no new injury concerns to worry about. On the flip side, Fabinho and Joel Matip are strongly expected to feature at some point with the always deadly trio of Mane, Firmino and Salah looming large.

Crystal Palace vs Liverpool Betting Prediction

It’s never easy to find yourself in a position where you’re the favourites away from home, and yet, Jurgen Klopp seems to relish that every single time these days. He’s helped Liverpool to find the right balance as a club and he’s the first manager to do that in quite some time, and we’re including Brendan Rodgers in that discussion.

Palace are going to start the game like a house on fire as you’d expect and to be honest, we wouldn’t be surprised to see them take the lead. Alas, we don’t think they’ve got what it takes to maintain that, and we think that Liverpool are going to exploit them defensively – but only just, to edge out a 2-1 result. It’s going to be an exceptionally fun game, and above all else, we just hope these two historic clubs showcase their potential.