What Alisson did before leaving Crystal Palace as Liverpool away end make point to players

Liverpool celebrate another victory as Reds fight hard to earn a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace despite Alisson Becker’s injury

Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah showing their appreciation to the fans at the end of the Premier League match between Crystal Palace FC and Liverpool FC at Selhurst

If Arne Slot is insistent that his Liverpool players won’t spend too long looking at the Premier League table during October’s international break, it will at least make for pleasing viewing for those scanning the lay of the land over the next fortnight.

And having largely kept their powder dry at Molineux last week, the travelling Kop this time made their voices heard as they cheered loudly about their status as early-season pace-setters. It was a rendition of ‘Liverpool, Liverpool top of the league’ that was enjoyed particularly by captain Virgil van Dijk, who was first on the scene to salute their support at full time.

Slot will continue to stress that there are tougher tests and more difficult days ahead but 10 games is a decent enough sample size to start making informed judgements over what fans will have in store for them going forward. And this win bore all the hallmarks of the new way of Liverpool life. It was controlled, measured and largely free of any dramatic flourishes, aside from an injury blow to Alisson Becker. On the flip side, the Reds aren’t quite firing on all cylinders in the final third, but they will be able to make peace with that, for

This was everything Liverpool had expected it to be at Crystal Palace: a winnable fixture that would only be achieved via a hard-fought effort, and so it proved to be as Diogo Jota’s early strike settled it. Liverpool are not exactly turning in the free-flowing performances of champions-elect just now and the nature of their victories of late would garner far more recognition if we were at the business end of proceedings, but they are racking up points while looking defensively solid and compact.

It’s still just two goals conceded in the Premier League after seven games but the concern now is that such a miserly record has been built on having everyone fit and available for selection at the back and Alisson may now face a period on the sidelines after what appeared to be a hamstring injury in the second half. “It’s going to take a few weeks, I assume,” was Slot’s gloomy early update.

With Caoimhin Kelleher absent through illness, it was left to third-choice Vitezlsav Jaros to step in and see out the win. The Czech Republic international may be a novice at this level but an excellent season on loan at Sturm Graz in Austria last term saw him win the domestic double. One alert piece of goalkeeping thwarted Jean-Philippe Mateta while Eberechi Eze’s tame finish was dealt with no fuss too.

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Jaros became just the fourth goalkeeper to make his Liverpool debut from the bench in the Premier League, following in the path of names like Adrian, Brad Jones and Patrice Luzi.

Slot has pinpointed a marked improvement in away form this season having made a point on Friday about how Manchester City collected 10 more in a campaign that saw the champions finish nine above the Reds. In that respect it’s been flawless from the new regime, with four straight wins on the road ensuring a 100% return to date.

Liverpool’s opener came via the first piece of play that really opened up Palace and it owed so much to Kostas Tsimikas’s ball in behind for Cody Gakpo, whose low cross was poked home by an alert Jota inside 10 minutes.

The Portugal international’s goal – his fourth of the campaign in all competitions – means he has now been directly involved in 13 in his last 14 starts in the top flight, with eight strikes alongside five assists and it was his 60th for the Reds in what was his 100th appearance since signing from Wolves four years ago.

To many he remains the best finisher at the club and on a weekend when Slot had spoken more generally about fashioning better-quality chances for strikers Jota and Darwin Nunez, a poacher’s effort inside the six-yard box would have been exactly what the head coach wanted to see.

Ryan Gravenberch shone once more in midfield, showing Adam Wharton a clean pair of heels twice in the first half before a lovely drop of the shoulder was enough to escape the attention of Jefferson Lerma after the break. The Netherlands international is one of the form players of the Premier League right now and surely won’t want the break to come.

For all the positives that are overflowing at Liverpool just now though, the issue regarding their vaunted goalkeeper casts a long shadow over this latest victory and also reinforces that the decision to pay Valencia around £30m for Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili for next summer was a good, proactive one. At the time, that transfer seemed peculiar but the injury history of the current No.1 cannot be shrugged off lightly.

A nervous waiting game now ensues and the difficulty Alisson had at simply climbing the Selhurst Park steps on his way to the team bus betrayed the gentle, less-than-enthusiastic thumbs up he gave to those asking about the issue as he made his way past the assembled press after the game.

‘Liverpool, Liverpool top of the league,’ but one suspects the injury updates for Alisson will be checked on more than the table this next fortnight.