Liverpool battle hard to get win over Palace

Liverpool came in to the game as favourties to win after an impressive game against West Ham in the first game of the season, but this match was a lot tougher than that 4-0 win.

Crystal Palace were going to be a difficult opponent for the 'Reds', but they battled exceptionally hard to stop Liverpool from being the free-flowing attacking side that they have become.

In the first period of the game, Liverpool's front three were finding it difficult to get clear chances on goal. Andros Townsend had the best chance in the first 45 minutes, as he cut inside from the right flank to bend the ball well but could only hit the Liverpool post.

As the half drew to a close, Salah continued to try and make something happen, and was brought down by Mamadou Sakho in the box. James Milner stepped up to calmly tuck the penalty home.

The second half started in the same way as the first had been, with Palace battling hard in defence and frustrating the Liverpool players with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in particular having difficult games.

At the back, Liverpool were strong as Virgil van Dyk and Joe Gomez did well to deal with the threat from Wilfried Zaha when he could get on the ball.

Salah was again involved in a moment of controversy, when he went down theatrically as he was through on the Crystal Palace goal, causing the referee to send Aaron Wan-Bissaka off because of the challenge.

Crystal Palace kept going after being reduced to 10 men, and were punished for their attacking intent at the end of the match.

After a corner was dealt with by the Liverpool defence, Mo Salah played in Sadio Mane, who made the most of the home team almost all being up for the corner still, to run in on their goal and round Wayne Hennesey to pass the ball home.

Liverpool will be extremely happy with the way they grinded out the result, while Palace should take great courage from how well they frustrated arguably the best front three in the Premier League.