Crystal Palace 0 Liverpool 1: Alisson injury, slots rare rotation and elegant Gravenberch

Liverpool managed a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon to maintain their place at the top of the Premier League.

The visitors took the lead early in the game when Diogo Jota parried in a low cross and fired the ball past Dean Henderson into the Palace net.

Liverpool then dominated the majority of the game, managing twelve shots to Palace's nine, but failing to score a second. They suffered a setback when Alisson left injured late in the second half, but Vitezslav Jaros, making his Liverpool debut, managed to keep a clean sheet.

Here, The athlete analyzes Liverpool's victory.

Will Liverpool be worried about Alisson's injury?

Just when everything seemed to be going according to plan, Alisson dropped his leg to the ground.

Virgil van Dijk signaled to the bench that a change was needed immediately. Alisson took off his gloves as he hit the ground in frustration. Another injury to contend with – only this time there was no Caoimhin Kelleher to replace him. The Irishman was out due to illness.

So Vitezslav Jaros, the 23-year-old Czech international, made his debut for the remaining 10 minutes. It was an anxious wait – not only because Alisson is so reliable and had saved Liverpool on several occasions with important saves and interventions, but also because so little was known about his replacement.

Jaros' first involvement was a nervous shot to clear a corner. His confidence then grew when he denied Eberechi Eze, although the Palace playmaker should have done more with the finish.

In the final minutes, Jaros held his nerve to help Liverpool over the line, but the severity of Alisson's injury will now be an ongoing issue.

Greg Evans

How did a rotated Liverpool player fare?

After the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, which followed an international break in which most of his players had struggled through two games, Slot decided this was the ideal time to refresh his team.

It's no secret that the head coach likes to play with a fixed starting lineup, so the changes he makes are often rare. Before this weekend, Slot had only swapped out a handful of players and mostly stuck with the same defense and midfield; Making four changes for this game was a departure from the norm. Curtis Jones replaced Dominik Szoboszlai and fought his way through midfield without neglecting the set pieces. If anything, Jones gave Liverpool more bite in the middle of the pitch.

Kostas Tsimikas stepped in at left-back and played with confidence and determination, while Andy Robertson was given a break. Cody Gakpo maintained his solid track record as he was credited with an assist for Jota's opener.

Diogo Jota opens the scoring for Liverpool (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Slowly but surely, Liverpool are showing that this team may be willing to go the distance. Slot reduced the numbers with the belief that it would be more beneficial to work with a close-knit squad and so far every player has responded positively.

Greg Evans

How did Tsimikas play in Robertson's absence?

Whether he came on to save Robertson's legs or was chosen for his tactical suitability, Tsimikas proved a shrewd choice – and a callback to one of the dynamics within Slots Feyenoord.

During Feyenoord's title-winning 2022/23 season, Slot Quilindschy used Hartman as his left-back. Hartman quickly developed into one of the best full-backs in the Eredivisie. Because of his ability to spot attacking opportunities and keep the ball moving forward, Hartman fit into Slot's team like a glove (and became a Dutch international in his first full season of senior football).

Tsimikas played in the same manner against Palace, switching between a more inverted role and more traditional full-back positions, often finding space for knife passes upfield. His influence at Selhurst Park may have exposed systemic weaknesses at the Palace. The ball that helped Jota score the goal cleared space between Maxence Lacroix and Ismaila Sarr.

While his reversal was useful and his passing helped establish and sustain Liverpool's attacking threat while supporting Gravenberch in numbers in the middle of the pitch, his ability to combine with Gakpo – either through under or overlapping – ensured that side the playing field was unpredictable. This allowed both players to remain prominent against Palace's weak right side, which never really slowed either player down.

He was the right player for the right occasion.

Sebastian Stafford Bloor

Did Gravenberch shine in a new midfield?

Ryan Gravenberch's early form has seen him named one of the players of the season so far and this was further evidence of how profound his influence has been. The range of his distribution from the No.6 role and the disguise on many of those passes helped keep Palace off balance.

Gravenberch emerged as a more aggressive player at Ajax – a carrier, actually – and although he is much more static in that position, many of those skills are still present in his game. Saturday was a good example. Gravenberch is a pressure-resistant player, meaning that every time he touched the ball, Palace were never quite sure whether to pressure him or hold back and take away his passing angles.

Ultimately they achieved neither and he had a great day cutting his passes through the lines and into space, allowing Liverpool to pour forward in numbers and create numerical superiority in attacking positions. It was interesting to see how much chemistry there was in Liverpool's midfield considering how Slot reshuffled his personnel for this game.

Part of this may have simply been due to how consistent the supply from Gravenberch was.

Gravenberch during Saturday's game (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Overall, it was an elegant performance. Gravenberch pirouettes in front of his opponents and evades their challenges, as does anyone else currently playing in that role in the league, and this was another afternoon where his movement off the ball and his use of possession were confidently good.

Sebastian Stafford Bloor

What's next for Liverpool?

Sunday, October 20th: Chelsea (H), Premier League, 4:30pm UK, 11:30am ET

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(Top photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)