Liverpool-Crystal Palace Preview

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says Tuesday's Champions League humiliation at the hands of Real Madrid showed the Reds remain unstable, urging them to find consistency ahead of Saturday's trip to Crystal Palace.

Liverpool have seen off Everton and Newcastle United in their last two Premier League games, but they threw away a two-goal lead in Tuesday's 5-2 demolition by Los Blancos at Anfield.

While the Reds' last two league results have left them just seven points adrift of a top-four spot, Klopp says Tuesday's reverse demonstrated the shortcomings they are yet to negate.

"What I saw in this game was a lot of things are back but not stable yet," Klopp said. "We have to work on that stability.

"The good things are really good and will be good forever, but we have to make sure we don't suffer from the few things that aren't working very well.

"We cannot always go like this through a season. We have to find some consistency in the way we play.

"Emotions are very important, but it cannot all be about emotions. 'Today I feel great, tomorrow not so well', stuff like this. We just have to start believing 100 per cent in ourselves again."

Palace could yet be drawn into a tense battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League, with Patrick Vieira's men conceding a late leveller in a 1-1 draw at Brentford to make it seven games without a win last time out.

"We were disappointed by conceding (with) the last kick of the game," the former Arsenal midfielder said.

"When you look at the game from the start to the end, there are some positives we can take from that game, but it's telling us a lot about how we need to score that second goal.

"When we have those opportunities, it is important for us take them."

Crystal Palace - Eberechi Eze

Eze's tally of four Premier League goals this campaign is only bettered by Wilfried Zaha (six) among his Eagles team-mates. Having opened the scoring in last week's draw at Brentford, the creative midfielder will be keen to follow up with another strike against the Reds.

Liverpool - Darwin Nunez

Liverpool duo Nunez and Mohamed Salah create a chance for one another every 55 minutes in the Premier League this season on average, the best rate of any pair to have played at least 500 minutes together. The Uruguay striker was assisted by Salah for his opening goal against Madrid on Tuesday, and he will hope for a similar combination on Saturday.

Liverpool have won their last seven away Premier League games against Palace by an aggregate score of 22-6. Only at Norwich City (eight between 1995 and 2021) have the Reds had a longer away winning run in the competition.

The Reds are therefore huge favourites for a third consecutive league victory despite their midweek defeat to Madrid, though they have lost on two of their last three league trips to the capital, having only suffered two defeats in their previous 24 in London (W14 D8).

Palace are winless in their last seven league games (D4 L3), and Vieira's men need to end that run soon to ensure they avoid slipping into the relegation battle.

Crystal Palace 19.5 per cent

Liverpool 54.3 per cent

Draw 26.2 per cent

Updated February 24, 2023