James Milner and Sadio Mane were both on the scoresheet as Liverpool beat a 10-man Crystal Palace 2-0 in their Premier League encounter at Selhurst Park.
Liverpool may have won four and drawn one of the last four encounters with Crystal Palace, but the Eagles have landed some damaging blows against Liverpool in years gone by.
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Liverpool came into the encounter off the back of a 4-0 thumping of West Ham in their opening fixture at Anfield. Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were both on the scoresheet as the Reds produced a dominant display.
Palace also impressed in their first game as Roy Hodgson’s men beat newly promoted Fulham 2-0.
Jurgen Klopp’s team started the match on the front foot as the home side were content to sit back and ask their opponents to break them down, while looking to catch them on the break.
Palace then grew into the game and almost opened the scoring on the 25th minute. Andros Townsend cut in from the right flank and let loose a rocket from range; the ball, however, cannoned off the crossbar.
Just as it looked as if the game would be goalless at the break, Salah was brought down in the box by Mamadou Sakho and the referee pointed to the spot.
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James Milner stepped up and had no problems converting as he arrowed his shot into the bottom right-hand corner.
13 – James Milner has scored 13 of the 15 penalties that he has taken in the Premier League, including 9 of his 10 for Liverpool in the competition. Reliable. pic.twitter.com/7xg7VH8QMp
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 20, 2018
Liverpool led 1-0 at the break but Palace would have felt hard done by after a solid first half.
Crystal Palace started the second stanza brightly as they forced new Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson into a couple of top-quality saves.
Palace’s task of getting back into the game got even harder when Aaron Wan-Bissaka hacked down Salah, who was clean through on goal, leaving the referee little option but to pull out the red card. The home side were down to 10 men with 15 minutes to play.
The game opened up after the red card, but neither side could manage to find the back of the net until with seconds to play, Salah slipped through Mane on goal, the Senegalese international rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into an empty net.
Liverpool 2-0 winners in the end as they maintain their perfect early season record. Roy Hodgson, however, would be pleased by the performance of his players, who pushed Klopp’s men all the way.
