Palace vs Liverpool Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man & Prediction

Liverpool will look to kick start their season when they take on Crystal Palace at Selhurt Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Reds went into the international break off the back of a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Anfield with Diego Costa scoring the decisive goal midway through the second half.

That loss leaves Liverpool down in eleventh place in the Premier League table so Brendan Rodgers will be desperate to get back to winning ways and close in on the top four.

Palace head into the game off the back of a poor run of form that’s seen them pick up just one point from their previous five games with a 1-0 loss at Manchester United two weeks ago leaving them second bottom so Neil Warnock will want a positive result to get out of the relegation zone.

This is the first time Liverpool play at Selhurst Park since last seasons disastrous outing that saw the Merseysiders let-slip a three-goal lead to draw 3-3, with that draw putting a huge dent in their title ambitions, so Rodgers will want to banish those memories with a positive result tomorrow.

Team News

Liverpool were dealt a major blow in midweek with the news that Daniel Sturridge wont play again until the New Year after picking up a fresh thigh injury in training.

Mario Balotelli faces a late fitness test on a minor hamstring problem and Rodgers has hinted that Rickie Lambert could be handed a rare start tomorrow.

Jordan Henderson is expected to shake off a minor knock to start in midfield while Javier Manquillo could get the nod at right back ahead of Glen Johnson.

Palace will hand a late test to winger Yannick Bolasie after he arrived back late from international duty but Mile Jedinak is expected to come back in after serving a one-match ban last time out.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Raheem Sterling: With Sturridge out and Balotelli struggling for form, the onus will be on Sterling to provide some spark in the final third. The youngster has yet to hit top form this season, but he has the potential to cause the hosts some problems this weekend.

Predicted Score

Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool: The Merseysiders may not be firing on all cylinders yet but Palace have been in poor form of late and I’d expect to see Liverpool edge this one by the odd goal.

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What team would you put out for the game and what’s your predicted score?