Anfield awaits as Reds prepare to face Palace

Liverpool Football Club are just five points away from securing their first league title in 30 years, with Crystal Palace next up on Merseyside.

Liverpool FC are 20 points clear at the top of the Premier League table, and a win against Crystal Palace FC at Anfield tonight will bring Jürgen Klopp’s side within just two points of their first league title in 30 years.

The Reds resumed their season, following the COVID-19 shutdown, with a scoreless draw against Everton FC in the Merseyside derby on Sunday night.

Next up is Palace, with both Mo Salah and Andy Robertson available to return, although James Milner and Joël Matip are both out after sustaining injuries against Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Manager Klopp is looking forward to seeing his side play at Anfield for the first time since March, despite the fact that the game will be played behind closed doors.

"It will be very different. My rule for life is that things I can't change I don't think about. We have to make the best of it. It's still a home game, our dressing room,” he said.

While captain Jordan Henderson was pleased with a clean sheet and his side’s defensive performance at Goodison Park, he knows that a more clinical approach in the final third will get LFC back to winning ways.

"I think we can be a lot better of course,” the skipper admitted after the Everton game.

"We know that [but] there were still some positive things that I thought were good.

"We tried to adapt to the situation but overall obviously we are disappointed because we wanted to come here and get the three points.

"But there are still plenty of positives, a clean sheet and I thought we defended really well. We just lacked that bit in the final third.”

Henderson was full of praise for goalkeeper Alisson, whose fine save against Dominic Calvert-Lewin late in the game kept the score level. Tom Davies struck the post from the rebound.

"[Alisson] has been outstanding all season and he’s come up with a brilliant save as well to keep us with a clean sheet, so that was important for us,” added Henderson.

"But, overall there’s still a lot of positives. Like I said, in the final third I think we can be a little bit better and more clinical but we'll get ready now for Wednesday.”

Klopp, felt the game closely followed the pattern of similar league derbies across Stanley Park at Goodison in recent years.

"We didn't have enough chances for sure, but that's how it is,” said the German.

"When I think about it, I think all the derbies here at Goodison looked pretty similar honestly. I think the result is similar.

"At Anfield, the games are most of the time slightly better. Here at Goodison it was always like this – two teams, aggressive, very physical. Everton [were well] organised, so we had to run a lot, which I like.

"It looked good, we looked fit, we looked ready. But now in three days we play another game against Crystal Palace and they are obviously in a very good shape. So, we have to make sure that we are ready for that.”

Defender Virgil van Dijk feels that LFC are inching closer to the title, which will be the club’s first since the Premier League was formed in 1992.

"We’re a step closer,” he said after Sunday’s game.

"Obviously we wanted to win, we wanted to get the three points today, but we’re another step closer. We’ll try to improve every time and we’ll see how that will develop over the next couple of weeks.”