Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino scored the winner five minutes before the full-time whistle as the Reds kept up their eight-point lead at the summit of the Premier League table with a 2-1 win over Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
The 28-year-old Firmino found the back of the net from close range after a corner to restore the visitors’ lead three minutes after it looked as if Palace winger Wilfried Zaha had earned a valuable point for the Eagles to halt Liverpool’s momentum.
Zaha’s 82nd-minute strike was his first goal of this season and it canceled out Sadio Mane’s opening goal when the Senegalese struck just after the break. It was Mane’s 10th goal of the campaign and it looked to be the winner until Zaha leveled things up in late in the game.
However, the 27-year-old Zaha also wasted a great chance further on in the game to score a second equalizer when he horribly blazed the ball over from close range which then handed all the three points for Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp decided to rest Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah on the bench due to the attacker’s persistent ankle worries and the Merseyside giants have now gone 30 games unbeaten in the English top-flight dropping only two points in the league this term which was incidentally a draw against Manchester United.
But Liverpool rode their luck once again in a tricky atmosphere and was helped when Palace center back James Tomkins had a goal ruled out in first-half stoppage time by the VAR (video assistant referee) following Jordan Ayew shoving Croatian center back Dejan Lovren from behind inside the box.
Firmino scored his first goal in nine games for the Reds and that proved to be the winning goal which also meant that Klopp did not have to bring Salah onto the pitch. The hosts had their fair share of chances and tested Alisson on quite a few occasions but Dutch defender Virgil Van Dijk was solid as ever for Liverpool dealing with almost everything that was thrown his way.
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