Mohamed Salah limps off injured in Liverpool’s win against Crystal Palace

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Liverpool finally lifted the curse of Crystal Palace on a sun-kissed, restorative afternoon at Anfield where Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz scored, third choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman took the acclaim of the Kop and Arne Slot’s side climbed to fourth in the Premier League. “You greedy bastards, enough is enough,” reverberated around Anfield as the vast majority of fans showed yellow cards to Liverpool owners, Fenway Sports Group.But for Slot, a first win of the season in four meetings with Oliver Glasner’s team, who may have had one eye on Thursday’s Conference League semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk, was the priority as Champions League qualification moved a step closer.Palace started well with Adam Wharton controlling central midfield and Jean-Philippe Mateta occupying Liverpool’s central defenders to allow Brennan Johnson and Ismaïla Sarr to threaten.

Photograph: Phil Noble/ReutersSalah, who linked well with Wirtz during his 59 minutes on the pitch, was central to Liverpool’s improvement and an opening goal that would have brought pure relief to Isak. Isak may have scuffed the effort but, given this season’s toils, the sight of the ball looping into the Palace net for his first league goal for Liverpool at Anfield will have been sweet regardless.Slot’s side quickly doubled their lead from a blistering counterattack instigated by Woodman’s superb save from Mateta.

The third choice goalkeeper, making his first league start for Liverpool against the club he supported and joined as a boy, reacted brilliantly to tip away the centre-forward’s close range header. Woodman came off his line sharply to smother Sarr’s shot after the Palace forward was played through by substitute Yéremy Pino.