Firmino pounces to keep Liverpool top
Jurgen Klopp was delighted with Liverpool’s fight at Crystal Palace as the leaders left London with three points despite a below-par display.
Roberto Firmino struck an 85th-minute winner to extend the Reds’ unbeaten Premier League run to 30 games and end his own goalscoring drought stretching back to September 22.
Three minutes earlier Wilfried Zaha had thrilled a buoyant Selhurst Park crowd with his first goal of the season to cancel out Sadio Mane’s opener.
“I am not surprised at all it was tough,” Klopp said. “All our games since I am in England are always similar. We just know it is a tough place, the atmosphere is good and they don’t give up.
“We knew at half-time we had to do better. The challenge, and it’s the same for everybody, is that they come from the international teams, and I had no problem that we were not brilliant.
“In a game like this you just have to make sure you are ready to fight to get the result from the first minute.
“Could we have played better? Yes, but we had players on the pitch who on Thursday morning were still on a plane.
“It is not too cool and for that getting a result at Crystal Palace, who we never take for granted, is good.”
Liverpool, who only named Mohamed Salah on the bench, dominated the opening exchanges at an electric Selhurst Park, but were denied an early goal when James Tomkins blocked Mane’s effort from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross.
At the other end, Luka Milivojevic’s free-kick by the corner flag was
inadvertently flicked on by Gini Wijnaldum, and Tomkins headed in at the back post. However, after VAR had a look, it ruled Jordan Ayew had fouled Dejan Lovren in the build-up.
Klopp managed to get his side to regroup at the interval and four minutes into the second half they made the breakthrough.
Mane controlled Andy Robertson’s cross and saw his left-footed effort only pushed on to a post by Vicente Guaita, who watched in horror as the back spin
of the ball took it on to the other post and over the line.
Palace levelled with eight minutes remaining when Zaha drilled into the corner, but it was short-lived joy for the Eagles, as three minutes and 14 seconds after the equaliser Firmino put Liverpool back ahead with a smart finish.
Like in the win over Aston Villa at the start of the month, the Reds again struck at the death to seal all three points.
Yet Klopp is not interested in people likening the late goals to the traits of
champions, adding: “I have no clue what people will say.
“I know 37 points after 13 matchdays is exceptional and you cannot have that with winning only brilliant games.
“We have had some brilliant games and we won them. But we cannot only win them so that is how it is. We are not out there to send messages – we want results.”
Liverpool were pushed all the way for their victory and impressively did it without Mohamed Salah, who remained an unused substitute after a recent ankle injury.
Klopp said: “We wanted to bring him and then we scored and we were able to rest him, which is really good. Wednesday (against Napoli) he will be back.”
Roy Hodgson thought his side had taken the lead when James Tomkins headed home at the end of the first half, but VAR ruled out the effort and they went on to suffer a third straight defeat.
Hodgson was gutted for his team to walk away empty-handed, but full of praise for their display against his old club.
He said: “I thought it was our best performance of the season. We really did play well.
“It’s a bitter blow after getting what we thought was a deserved equaliser to concede that second goal from the corner kick.”