Premier League Preview: Liverpool Aims for Consecutive Wins to Defend Top Spot; Can Crystal Palace Pull Off an Upset Despite Multiple Injuries?

At 19:30 on October 5th, in the 7th round of the 2024-25 Premier League season, Crystal Palace will host Liverpool at their home ground. The two teams are in starkly different situations; Crystal Palace has yet to secure their first win of the season and is currently in the relegation zone, while Liverpool has been on a roll and currently sits atop the league table.

In the first six rounds of the Premier League, Liverpool has achieved 5 wins and 1 loss, accumulating 15 points, temporarily leading over teams like Manchester City, Arsenal, and Chelsea. Conversely, Crystal Palace has only managed 3 draws and 3 losses in the first six rounds, struggling to find a single victory.

Since the start of the season, Liverpool’s performance has been evident to all, from the Premier League to the Champions League and then the English League Cup. Liverpool has played a total of 9 matches, losing only once unexpectedly to Nottingham Forest in the fourth round of the league, while winning the other 8 games. From September 18th to now, Liverpool has consecutively defeated AC Milan (Champions League), Bournemouth (Premier League), West Ham United (English League Cup), Wolves (Premier League), and Bologna (Champions League), securing a five-game winning streak across multiple competitions. It’s also worth noting that Liverpool has won all four of its away games, with a 100% away game win rate.

Liverpool’s top position in the Premier League can largely be attributed to their outstanding defensive performance, conceding an average of 0.33 goals per game, making them the team with the fewest goals conceded among the 20 Premier League teams, keeping a clean sheet in as many as four matches during this period. In terms of offensive performance, Liverpool averages 2 goals per game, ranking third in the league for goals scored, behind Chelsea (2.5 goals) and Manchester City (2.33 goals). Among these, Salah’s recent performance has been particularly noteworthy, scoring in three consecutive games, demonstrating his fiery form. Besides Salah, players like Diaz and Jota have also shown commendable form in the attack.

In terms of historical head-to-head records, Liverpool holds a dominant advantage, winning 11, drawing 2, and losing 2 out of the last 15 encounters. However, in their most recent meeting on April 14th of this year, Liverpool suffered a 0-1 defeat at Anfield to Crystal Palace, with Eze scoring the only goal of the match.

Cystal Palace’s performance at the start of the season has been less than ideal. While they have successively defeated Norwich and Queens Park Rangers in the English League Cup, they have struggled to secure a win in the Premier League, losing 1-2 to Brentford, 0-2 to West Ham United, drawing 1-1 with Chelsea, 2-2 with Leicester City, 0-0 with Manchester United, and losing 1-2 to Everton during this period. Crystal Palace’s offensive performance has been particularly weak, averaging 0.83 goals per game, making them one of the teams with the second-lowest goals scored in the Premier League, just ahead of Southampton (averaging 0.5 goals).

Moreover, there is a significant difference in Crystal Palace’s goal-scoring between halves, having scored only 1 goal in the first half, while the other 4 goals were all scored in the second half. Within Crystal Palace’s squad, apart from Mateta and Eze, the contributions from other players to the offense have been very limited. Apart from Elliott, Liverpool’s squad is relatively complete; however, Crystal Palace faces more pressing injury concerns, with Franca out for several weeks due to a groin injury, Doucouré still in recovery and expected to resume training in the second week of the international break; fortunately, Chalobah’s recovery is progressing well, and he is close to returning.

>>”>For more predictions and analysis for this match, click >>>