CRYSTAL PALACE 1 LIVERPOOL 2
A LANDMARK goal for Mohamed Salah and superb added time effort from Harvey Elliott ensured Liverpool moved to the top of the Premier League ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Aston Villa after claiming a dramatic victory in a game that turned on the 75th minute dismissal of Crystal Palace winger Jordan Ayew.
Prior to Ayew departure, Jurgen Klopp’s side had trailed to a Jean-Philippe Mateta penalty and had shown few signs of working their way back into the game.
They benefited from a stroke of good fortune when referee Andy Madley adjudged Ayew’s trip on Elliott to be worthy of a second yellow card and equalised through Salah’s 200th goal for the club that found its way past Sam Johnstone with the help of a big deflection.
Palace manager Roy Hodgson was booked for protesting Ayew’s sending off and Palace were further disrupted when Johnstone was injured in the 86th minute and replaced by Remi Matthews who was beaten at his near post by Elliott’s well-struck shot.
Prior to the late drama, the game had been dominated by two contentions VAR decisions.
The first painfully long review led to Madley overturning a first-half decision to award Palace a penalty, the second prompted the match official to review an incident he had initially overlooked and award Palace the penalty that led to them taking a 56th minute lead.
There were signs this might be a long afternoon for Liverpool during a first-half when the visitors’ play was marked by a surprising lack of urgency.
Palace’s determined pressing repeatedly hurried Liverpool into making mistakes and the game finally sparked into life in the 28th minute when Liverpool keeper Alisson produced a superb reaction save to deny Jefferson Lerma’s close-range
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