Crystal Palace 1-3 Liverpool was the answer Andoni Iraola needed. After two straight defeats, the Reds went to Selhurst Park on Sunday 8 November 2026 and came away with a deserved win, thanks to Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, and a goalkeeping masterclass from Alisson.
Crystal Palace 1-3 Liverpool: how the game unfolded
Liverpool had lost back-to-back games for the first time under Iraola, the latest a midweek defeat at Fenerbahce, so the nerves were understandable. Our Palace v Liverpool preview said the Reds needed a response. They got one.
The visitors started on the front foot. Mac Allister had a shot saved inside the opening 30 seconds, then glanced a Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick into the side-netting. It was a warning Palace did not heed.
Palace threaten, Alisson answers
The hosts grew into the contest. Daichi Kamada rattled the crossbar from close range on 18 minutes, and Jorgen Strand Larsen saw a goal ruled out for offside. Bradley Barcola then volleyed over from Szoboszlai’s cross when he should have scored.
Alisson kept Liverpool level, palming away a vicious Kamada volley with a superb stop. Moments later, the Reds struck. Szoboszlai’s free-kick again found Mac Allister, who darted to the front post and this time headed it into the net.
Wirtz makes it a formality
Nine minutes after the restart came the goal that mattered. Barcola sped down the right and crossed, and Wirtz arrived to stroke home a calm, first-time finish. From there the result felt settled, with Palace only threatening in flashes.
The final ten minutes could have felt very different. Yeremy Pino looked set to pull one back, but Alisson smothered his effort, sprang to his feet and saved Quinten Timber’s follow-up too. At the other end, Dean Henderson saved a Wirtz shot and then beat Isak in a one-on-one.
Isak was not to be denied in the 89th minute. He rounded the Palace keeper after a rapid counter-attack to make it 3-1. Eddie Nketiah converted a stoppage-time penalty for the consolation.
Alisson and the tactical story
Liverpool’s supporters voted Alisson the Carlsberg Player of the Match, his first such award this season. The saves from Kamada and Pino were the difference between a comfortable afternoon and a nervy one.
Iraola made five changes from the Fenerbahce defeat. Ronald Araujo and Milos Kerkez returned in defence, while Cody Gakpo, Isak and Wirtz all started. The attack looked sharper for it, with Szoboszlai’s set-piece delivery causing real problems and Barcola stretching Palace down the right.
It was not flawless. Liverpool let Palace have too many good looks in the first half, and a cleaner finish from Kamada or Strand Larsen would have changed the mood. But the Reds grew stronger as the game wore on, and that is a good sign for a team under pressure.
Set pieces and the right flank
Two of the Reds’ key attacking threats came from the same sources. Szoboszlai’s dead-ball delivery produced the best early chances and the opening goal, while Barcola’s pace down the right created Wirtz’s finish. Against a Palace side that sat deep at times, those two routes gave Liverpool a clear plan, and they stuck to it even when the hosts had spells of pressure.
Palace’s missed chances
Palace will reflect on a game in which Kamada hit the bar and Alisson saved from him, Strand Larsen had a goal disallowed and Pino was denied twice in quick succession. Their finishing let them down against a team that was far more clinical in the moments that decided the match.
What it means for the table
Iraola’s team head into the November international break on 18 points from ten Premier League games. That leaves them three points behind third-placed Manchester City and four adrift of second-placed Brighton & Hove Albion. City themselves lost at Forest on the same weekend, as we covered in our Nottingham Forest 3-1 Manchester City report, while leaders Arsenal edged Hull, which we reviewed in our Arsenal 1-0 Hull City match report.
The gap to the top is still sizeable, but the top four is within reach. Next up is an Anfield date with Manchester United in a fortnight, a fixture that now arrives with the Reds in better spirits than they would have been had they lost at Selhurst Park.
The verdict
This was a reaction win, built on set pieces, a calm finish from Wirtz and a goalkeeper in top form. For Iraola it was proof that his players can respond to a bad week. For Palace, it was another afternoon of creating chances and not taking them.
For more match reports, previews and analysis, browse the Little Big Red Dot Sports section.
