When Oliver Glasner took charge of Crystal Palace on 19 February 2024, they were 16th in the Premier League table, five points above the drop, and had won just twice in the previous three months. As for Liverpool, they occupied the top spot, sitting one point above Manchester City and two above Arsenal.
By Zach Lowy
It didn’t take long for Glasner to breathe new life into a prosaic Palace side and reverse their fortunes: they claimed 24 points from their next 13 matches en route to a 10th-place finish, scoring 29 goals and conceding 14, and equaled their highest-ever Premier League points tally (49). After bouncing around from Patrick Vieira to Roy Hodgson in recent years, it seemed Palace had finally found the manager to guide them to the next level and challenge for European football.
In contrast, Liverpool wilted under the pressure of delivering a quadruple in Jürgen Klopp’s farewell season, finishing a distant third after dropping points in five of their last eight matches. Arne Slot was entrusted with replacing Klopp, and so far, he’s done a flawless job. Apart from a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest after the international break, Liverpool have not only won each of their eight matches under Slot, but scored 2+ goals in each game.
Liverpool managed to eke out an ugly 2-1 victory at Wolves last weekend – their sole win without a margin of victory of at least two goals – before beating Bologna 2-0 in the UEFA Champions League. The Reds climbed to first place after City’s recent 1-1 draw to Newcastle and boast a one-point advantage over City and Arsenal as well as a two-point lead ahead of Chelsea and Aston Villa, and the odds are in their favor as they look to continue their winning streak at Crystal Palace.
Whilst Liverpool have enjoyed a complete 180 in their form, Palace have also produced a volte-face. They have struggled to recover from losing two key figures in Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen and occupy the relegation zone after taking three points from their first six matches. Glasner is quickly going from hero to zero at Selhurst Park, and the pressure is mounting on him to arrest their slide and avoid an early dismissal. However, masterminding another win against Liverpool may just be too tall of a task for the Austrian to handle.
The last time Liverpool visited Palace, the hosts took the lead before falling to 10 men – Mohamed Salah equalized immediately whilst Harvey Elliott completed the comeback in the 90th minute. Salah has registered 11 goal contributions in his first nine matches – two coming on Wednesday vs. Bologna – and there’s reason to believe he can exploit Palace’s leaky defense and lead Liverpool to yet another victory.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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