Week 16 of the 2023-2024 Premier League match between Crystal Palace vs Liverpool at Selhurst Park on Saturday (9/12/2023) ended in victory for the visiting team.
Liverpool, who fell behind because they conceded a penalty from Jean-Philippe Mateta (57′), managed to get back up and respond through the actions of Mohamed Salah (76′) and Harvey Elliott (90+1′).
Thanks to this result, Liverpool temporarily shot to first place in the 2023-2024 Premier League standings with 37 points in 16 matches.
The Crystal Palace vs Liverpool match opened with both teams trying to play attacking and aggressive. The approach of these two teams made the match even and neither dominated.
Crystal Palace actually almost got a penalty in the 29th minute after Virgil van Dijk was judged to have committed a foul on Odsonne Edouard.
However, after the referee checked the VAR again, the penalty was canceled. Because Will Hughes was judged to have violated Wataru Endo first. The first half ended in a draw with a score of 0-0.
Entering the second half, Liverpool made a tactical change by shifting Trent Alexander-Arnold to midfield and introducing Joe Gomez to replace Wataru Endo.
This change in tactics did not have an instant impact, in fact Liverpool were again unlucky. In the 55th minute, the referee stopped the match to check VAR for the incident that occurred a few minutes earlier.
The referee finally awarded Crystal Palace a penalty after Jarell Quansah was judged to have fouled Mateta in the penalty box. Mateta, who was appointed as executor, was able to put Crystal Palace ahead 1-0 in the 57th minute.
Liverpool, who were already behind, tried to be more aggressive and continued to put pressure on Crystal Palace. Liverpool’s dangerous counter-attack forced Jordan Ayew to foul Harvey Elliott in the 75th minute. The violation resulted in Ayew receiving a second yellow card and being sent off.
Taking advantage of their player advantage, Liverpool immediately equalized through Mohamed Salah. Salah, who received a pass from Curtis Jones, successfully fired a shot which then turned because it bounced off Nathaniel Clyne’s body. This was Mohamed Salah’s 200th goal in all competitions while he was in a Liverpool uniform.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Liverpool continued to press and finally managed to gain the lead in the 90+1 minute.
Harvey Elliott, who received feedback from Salah, immediately fired a hard kick from outside the penalty box and became a hero for Liverpool.
Liverpool almost widened their lead through Luis Diaz in the 90+3 minute. However, Diaz’s goal was not counted for offside reasons.
This result made Liverpool temporarily rise to the top of the 2023-2024 Premier League standings with a collection of 37 points.
Liverpool’s position could be shifted because Arsenal has not played their match in Week 16. Arsenal will only compete against Aston Villa on Sunday (10/12/2023). On the other hand, Crystal Palace is currently still in 14th place in the Premier League standings with a collection of 16 points from 16 matches.
