On the eve of the Hillsborough tragedy’s 35th anniversary, there was a perfectly observed moment of silence before the game began.
With 60,090 people in attendance—the largest ever for a league match at Anfield—Alisson was involved in the opening sixty seconds, blocking a dangerous Tyrick Mitchell cross and then taming an attempt by Eze.
Darwin Nunez was freed by Robertson on the left, but his effort from inside the area went straight at Dean Henderson, ending Liverpool’s opening offensive.
Mitchell again found space on the left as Palace capitalized on their next attack to take the lead. In the end, he retreated from the touchline and located the unmarked Eze, who performed flawlessly up close.
Four minutes later, Robertson slid to grasp and clear Jean-Philippe Mateta’s lift over Alisson before it crossed the goalline completely, preventing the visitors from adding another goal.
The Reds’ reaction was one of encouragement. Within three minutes, Wataru Endo hit the crossbar, Ibrahima Konate nearly scored with a header, and Diaz forced a spectacular save from Henderson.
The half ended as open as it had begun, with Mateta heading over and Salah having a curler punched away by Henderson.
Dominik Szoboszlai replaced Endo before halftime, but Conor Bradley’s injury forced Liverpool to make another change right after the restart. Trent Alexander-Arnold served as his substitute.
Nunez thought he had pulled the Reds level, but Henderson, reacting fastest to a Virgil van Dijk knockdown at a corner, kept out his ferocious effort from six yards out.
To assist the hosts in their quest for an equalizer, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo were brought on, and the two quickly contributed to chances.
Gakpo fired a cross in front of goal that Curtis Jones could not quite reach, and Jota’s side-foot finish, heading for the net, was denied by a last-ditch block by Nathaniel Clyne.
In the space of a minute, both sides had golden opportunities, but neither was seized.
After being stopped by Alisson a few yards in front of goal, Mateta was taken aback. On the other side, Gakpo’s outside-of-the-boot ball sent Jones through, but he was unable to find the goal.
Salah was stopped by a last-ditch effort from Mitchell, and Palace then dug in even deeper to hold onto the points.