Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday, with Florian Wirtz breaking a lengthy scoring drought to help end the club's first back-to-back Premier League losing run under manager Andoni Iraola.
Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring in the 40th minute, and Wirtz doubled the lead in the 54th with his first league goal in weeks, a result that will ease mounting pressure on the German midfielder following a quiet start to his Anfield career. Alexander Isak added a third in the 89th minute before Eddie Nketiah pulled one back for Palace from the penalty spot in stoppage time, after Milos Kerkez conceded the foul that led to the award.
A response to a rocky patch
Liverpool had arrived at Selhurst Park under pressure, having lost consecutive league matches for the first time since Iraola took charge, including a home defeat to Arsenal. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker made six saves to preserve the clean sheet until Nketiah's late penalty, while the match was fairly even statistically: Liverpool held 53 percent of possession and out-shot Palace 20 to 19, with an 8-7 edge in shots on target.
The win lifts Liverpool to 18 points from 10 matches and back into the Premier League's top four, a significant result given how costly the back-to-back losses had looked just a week earlier. Palace, by contrast, continue to search for consistency at home, with Nketiah's goal offering only partial consolation on an afternoon where Liverpool controlled the game's key moments.
What's next
Both clubs now head into the November international break with contrasting moods: Liverpool will look to build on the result when league play resumes, while Palace will look to address lapses that have left them exposed defensively in recent matches. Wirtz's goal, in particular, will be viewed as a potential turning point for a player under intense scrutiny since his move to Anfield, with Iraola likely to lean on the German's growing confidence when fixtures resume.
