Selhurst Park has never been an easy place for Liverpool to travel to. Who could forget last time we played there on Monday Night Football? I’m sure we’ve all tried really hard too.
In a matter of 11 minutes, we went from hoping West Ham could scrap a draw at the weekend vs Manchester City; to the title being about as far away as the moon.
However, that tie was just the start of the difficult games we would face against Palace at Selhurst Park. Ricky Lambert scored his first goal for Liverpool there, although, the game ended in defeat 3-1.
That same season, we did beat them in the F.A Cup after going 1-0 behind. Goals from Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge did the job. In Jurgen Klopp’s first season we had the infamous Benteke dive late on to help 10 men Liverpool remarkably come from behind to get three points. The 4-2 result in the 2016/17 was arguably a lot more convincing than the scoreline suggests. Bar some interesting defending from ‘the old’ Dejan Lovren, Liverpool absolutely destroyed Palace.
On Monday night, Crystal Palace will be a lot similar to the Roy Hodgson team we came up against last season, where we won 2-1 thanks to a late Mo Salah goal. As much as us Liverpool fans won’t like to admit it, Hodgson sides are absolutely horrible to play against and Monday’s fixture is going to be no different.
As you see from the results above, while we do tend to leave Palace with a positive result, we are always made to scrap for it. Personally, I think it is difficult there because it always seems like the ground is rocking. While many of our fanbase don’t really like how they use music to generate atmosphere, I think it does the job that they are after.
However, this Liverpool side has a different feel to the one from previous seasons. We have invested heavily. We have the best squad we’ve had in my lifetime too. The Reds have done the work off the field that will make the rest of the league take notice.
As such, Monday night is going to be a massive test. The “old” Liverpool would go there and scrap. The fans would know what was coming. But, this year, if it is going to finally be ‘our year’ then we musn’t be expecting to scrap for points.
The Reds need to go there, on the first Monday Night Football of the season, and absolutely batter that Hodgson side, show the rest of the country that we have very few, if any weaknesses and put on the performance of a side that so nearly won the Champions League. I’m so incredibly confident that Jurgen and the boys will do just that.
