The good news for Manchester City is that Liverpool suddenly look quite vulnerable. They conceded three goals here and ended up with 10 men after James Milner had, almost inevitably, picked up a second yellow card for another foul on Wilfried Zaha. The bad news is that they are still winning, even in adverse circumstances, and have reopened a seven-point gap. The home side’s 10 men managed what turned out to be the decisive goal when Sadio Mané cut in from the left to score in stoppage timeand, despite Max Meyer grabbing a last-gasp third for the visitors, Liverpool clung on for three important points.
One way or another Crystal Palace have contributed to an absorbing battle at the top of the Premier League. They halted the City procession by unexpectedly winning at the Etihad before Christmas and they might have pegged Liverpool back here but for lapses of concentration that ruined a promising start. In Manchester Palace mounted a spectacular comeback after going a goal down, scoring twice in quick succession to surprise Pep Guardiola’s side. Here they seemed to grow tired of waiting for the league leaders to go in front and after half an hour of comfortably repelling everything Liverpool could throw at them they went upfield to demonstrate what a quick and incisive attack looks like.
The much-anticipated contest between Milner and Zaha did not really happen in the first half because Palace did so little attacking, but when Liverpool found themselves overstretched and Patrick van Aanholt picked out the winger on the left he took full advantage. Zaha was round Milner on the outside in a flash, reaching the byline and cutting the ball back across goal, where Andros Townsend reacted quicker than Fabinho to beat Alisson from near the penalty spot.
The goal was against the run of play but the run of play and a wealth of possession had not been doing Liverpool any favours. With Xherdan Shaqiri on the bench they seemed to lack ideas and penetration, constantly shuttling the ball across the pitch without coming close to breaking through Palace’s two banks of defenders. Julián Speroni made an early save from Joël Matip and Virgil van Dijk headed narrowly over the bar from a free-kick but that those two half-chances represented the closest Liverpool came to a goal in the first period told its own story.
That was just the first half, though. With the sort of luck that will worry City supporters, Liverpool were back on level terms almost immediately after the interval with a goal that was more of Palace’s making than their own. First Van Aanholt and Mamadou Sakho dithered over a loose ball in the penalty area, eventually clearing unconvincingly. Jordan Henderson fed Van Dijk, whose shot from 30 yards out was hopeful in the extreme, yet the ball struck James McArthur on the way through and ended up hanging tantalisingly in front of Speroni. The goalkeeper might have been more decisive and his hesitancy was punished by Salah, who stuck out his left leg to collect one of the simplest goals of his career.
Palace were unnerved after that and the defence that had stood so firm in the first half gave way again six minutes later. James Tomkins unwisely stood off Roberto Firmino in the area, allowing him to take Naby Keïta’s pass and turn almost at leisure to beat Speroni with a shot into the bottom corner. At least Tomkins was quickly able to atone for his error when he levelled the scores from a Luka Milivojevic corner, rising unchallenged at the far post to head past Alisson.
That could and perhaps should have been a decisive moment in the title race but another defensive mistake steered Liverpool towards the three points. Milner did well to reach Fabinho’s diagonal pass and turn a first-time cross back into the danger area but there was no one to accept the invitation until Speroni tried to intercept and succeeded only in wafting the ball backwards towards goal. Once again Salah was on hand to profit – his knack of being in the right place is uncanny – but the ball was crossing the line anyway.
There was still time for two more goals and a dismissal as the day’s second 4-3 face-off did its best to match the excitement seen earlier at Molineux, and there was more riding on the result of this match.
Judging by the roar from the Kop that greeted Jürgen Klopp’s fist-pumping salute at the end, Liverpool might just feel they have dodged a bullet.
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