Crystal Palace vs Liverpool preview: Slot aims for ninth win

Liverpool have made a brilliant start to life under Arne Slot and will be looking to extend their run of eight wins from nine games when the Premier League leaders travel to Crystal Palace for kick-off at 12.30pm on Saturday.

While Liverpool are making good progress, the hosts are struggling, with Oliver Glasner’s side in 18th place and winless after their first six games of the season.

Liverpool, fresh from their 2-0 win over Bologna in midweek, will be hoping to maintain the momentum, with Mohamed Salah, Luis Díaz, Diogo Jota and Darwin Núñez all hoping to impress, while Palace are looking to the brilliant Eberechi Eze and Summer signing Eddie Nketiah will try to find a way to secure their first league win this season.

“They have already shown how tough they are as opponents against big teams like (Manchester) United and Chelsea,” Slot said at a press conference on Friday.

“In both situations they achieved a result. This is the first game and therefore it is the most important and difficult for us. (A) Kick-off at 12:30 p.m. after we played late in the Champions League on Wednesday evening and are playing against a team again. “That has a whole week to prepare, but that’s part of working at a top club we have to play against these teams and be prepared for these teams.

“Last season they finished really strong and lost one or two good players. I said it about Wolves last week and I can say the same about this team, they will do better as the season goes on, hopefully not tomorrow of course.”

Liverpool is looking for the perfect wave

With Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Bologna, Slot became the first Liverpool manager to win eight of his first nine games in charge. “I don’t draw any big conclusions from it, but it’s nice,” Slot said. “So many incredible managers have worked here and done so many special things. I just hope this isn’t the only thing people don’t remember about me in two or three years or however long I’m here.”

After the game against Wolves, Slot was happy with the win, but at the same time warned: “In the long term you have to pay attention to the performance,” he said. “I don’t think we started well.” After their midweek win in the Champions League, he said it was a “good result, but I wouldn’t use the word ‘delighted’.” The Dutch coach appears to be his team to challenge you to deliver the perfect 90 minute performance.

Slot’s predecessor Jürgen Klopp was known for his grumblings about early Saturday kick-offs after midweek European games and Slot faces the same challenge. He will make sure his team starts the game at a high pace and keeps their opponents at bay throughout. The focus is on Ryan Gravenberch, who was a revelation in sixth place.

“I was thrilled with Ryan (Gravenberch),” Slot said after the Bologna win. “Another great performance from him. He was able to turn his man over, which is really important against man coverage. He was outstanding again today.”

Gravenberch has become the solid backbone of the team alongside Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. All three are out of contract in the summer and as my colleague Mark Ogden wrote, Liverpool must be careful that this does not become a distraction.

Palace must win no matter what and everywhere

Having finished last season with a string of wonderful performances – including a 4-0 win over a hapless Manchester United and six wins out of seven in the league – this season has been a little more cautious for Palace so far.

Glasner’s reputation and work at the club after replacing Roy Hodgson in February attracted covetous looks from Bayern Munich in the summer, but those memories will feel miles away as he finds himself at the foot of the Premier League after three draws and a crucial clash finds itself in a difficult situation with three defeats.

They have struggled to convert chances, only Southampton have scored fewer goals than Palace this season, and they have made a number of unfortunate mistakes. Part of this could be attributed to the unfamiliarity of the squad, particularly in the first three games when personnel were still being recruited.

There was significant unrest in Selhurst Park. In the summer, Michael Olise moved to Bayern, Joachim Andersen moved to Fulham and Jordan Ayew, Odsonne Édouard and Sam Johnstone also left the club, but they managed to keep Marc Guéhi in the face of strong interest from Newcastle and the brilliant Eze.

They also brought in Nketiah, Trevoh Chalobah on loan, Ismaïla Sarr, Maxence Lacroix and Daichi Kamada. But they have looked disjointed this season and despite being in promising areas of the pitch, they have struggled to score goals from them.

“It’s unfair to expect anyone to win six out of seven games,” Glasner said at a press conference on Friday.

“I could give you many reasons, but overall it’s unrealistic for us to win every game. At the moment we are critical of ourselves. We’re not in the best shape. It’s hard work, nothing happens by itself.”

“We will need a big heart (against Liverpool). They have fantastic players and a new manager who is doing a fantastic job. Their players look hungry and ambitious, but we want to play forward and score points because if we don’t do that, we won’t win.”

The trip to the palace begins a difficult phase for Liverpool

The next few games, starting with Palace, will be a real acid test for Slots Liverpool. After Palace and the international break they have Chelsea (h), Arsenal (a), Brighton (h), Aston Villa (h), Southampton (a), Manchester City (h), Newcastle (a), Everton (a). in the league, while in the Champions League they face a difficult trip to Leipzig before hosting Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid. It is an extremely difficult run that will test the strength of his squad.

The key to this will be squad rotation. There was a lot to juggle at the top – Darwin Núñez started against Bologna on Wednesday, while Jota was given the nod to travel to Wolves in their last league game. But the rest of the team is pretty well-coordinated, with Ibrahima Konaté and Van Dijk as first-choice centre-backs and the well-established midfield trio of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Gravenberch.

To handle the upcoming games, you think Slot needs to rotate a little more and integrate players like Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones, Cody Gakpo, Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa (who is questionable for Saturday’s game) more early on.

“We still have to prove that when we face Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa we can still be at the top, including Champions League games,” Slot said last weekend. “Two years ago they last played in the Champions League and came fifth.

“Everyone is realistic. All the players have so much experience that they understand that you don’t have a realistic view of the table after six games in the season, but rather after 19 games.”