Former Liverpool star Mark Lawrenson has delivered his prediction for his old team’s trip to face Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The two teams go head to head at Selhurst Park in what should be a tightly-contested contest. Indeed, Lawro feels that Palace boss Roy Hodgson will ‘relish’ the match-up, which he feels will end 2-0 to Liverpool.
“This game sees Crystal Palace Roy Hodgson boss up against his former club, and it is the sort of test he relishes,” he wrote on the BBC Sport website. “Hodgson’s sides are very good at soaking up pressure and hitting teams on the break, but my worry for them here is that they do not have enough firepower to hurt Liverpool.
“I am sure Hodgson will set up his side to make things very difficult for the Reds, and it might be a tighter game than some people might think – but I just do not see Palace holding out.”
OPINION
Selhurst Park is one of the tougher places to go to in the Premier League, there’s no doubt about that. Hodgson knows what he’s got and what he doesn’t, and he sets his team up very intelligently and they make things difficult for the opposition. Jurgen Klopp’s team likely won’t smash four or five past the Eagles, but you can’t see them not scoring. With that said, will Palace be able to find the back of the net? That’s much harder to foresee. They simply don’t have the creativity or the cutting edge in front of goal to really make Liverpool sweat. Virgil van Dijk and co. won’t be too worried by the prospect of facing Christian Benteke or Jordan Ayew, and so 2-0 seems like a pretty decent prediction. Klopp will know that his team are unlikely to blow the hosts out of the water, but this feels like a typical Liverpool game this season: not hugely entertaining, but massively efficient.
