BARGAIN BENTEKE
Reds reject back to hit Klopp’s top-four hopes
CHRISTIAN BENTEKE never settled into life at Anfield but he certainly makes himself at home when he visits.
The former Liverpool striker bagged a brace to give Crystal Palace three massive points in their battle for Premier League safety.
The former Aston Villa man has scored five league goals at the home of the Reds for away sides – one more than he did for Jurgen Klopp’s men during his one-season stay at the club in 2015-16.
Pressure
He also gave former team-mate Dejan Lovren a bloody nose in an aerial challenge, to add to the pain.
But it was the damage he has done to Liverpool’s Champions League hopes that could hurt the most.
The Reds have opened the door for bitter rivals Manchester United to overtake them in the top-four race, if Jose Mourinho’s men win their two games in hand.
One of those is against Manchester City this week, but the pressure is well and truly on Liverpool now, with Pep Guardiola’s men also chasing down the third-placed Reds.
This should have been a routine win but, yet again, Liverpool struggled against one of the so-called smaller teams.
They thought they had shaken off such carelessness with recent wins over Stoke and West Brom. Yet despite dealing with the aerial threat of those two sides, it would be their undoing here.
The possession numbers show that Liverpool dominated the ball and they had 14 shots to Palace’s seven. But just one of them was on target and the stat that really mattered was two Benteke goals to one from Philippe Coutinho.
It all started so well for Liverpool and it looked like they would respond to United’s earlier win over Burnley in the perfect fashion by pummelling Palace.
Luka Milivojevic’s foul on Coutinho was punished by the Brazilian himself when he whipped in a stunning 24th-minute free-kick.
The hosts were coasting but a bad miss from Emre Can in the 39th minute was always likely to come back to haunt them.
It did within minutes, as Benteke equalised before the break. Joel Ward’s ball down the flank caught out James Milner and Lovren, which allowed Yohan Cabaye to break clear
on the right. The Frenchman’s cross was perfect for Benteke to come in and lash into the roof of the net from close range before he celebrated in muted fashion with on-loan Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho, who was ineligible but on the Palace bench.
That was his sixth goal in eight games against the Reds – the seventh would come later on.
Before that, Coutinho would try to work his magic with a run through a number of Palace players before his shot was blocked.
Then Divock Origi made his only impact of the game as he got in the way of a header from the Brazilian.
Priceless
Cabaye lashed one over from close range in the 71st minute before an Andros Townsend corner three minutes later somehow found its way through Liverpool’s static defence for Benteke to crouch down and head in.
Liverpool let the Belgian leave last summer for £27m – £5m less than they paid Villa – and his goals could be priceless for Palace, who are now seven points clear of the drop with a game in hand on 18th-placed Swansea.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are looking nervously over their shoulders as the top-four race heads for the home straight.