Written by @Wayde_D for @Hollywoodbets. Follow them both on Twitter and Facebook now!
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool | Monday 5 May | Selhurst Park | 21:00
An English Premier League season that keeps on surprising took another twist on Sunday, when second-placed Chelsea beat the league leaders and thus made third-placed Manchester City the new title favourite. Liverpool’s tight grip on the championship was broken by a most uncharacteristic mistake from their captain and leader Steven Gerrard. Now the Reds must hope Manchester City draw at least one of their three remaining games, while themselves winning their last two. Next up for Liverpool is a trip to Selhurst Park to face a Crystal Palace side who have shown some great form, moving into eleventh place on the table in their first season back in the Premier League.
To Win (90mins)
Crystal Palace 68/10
Draw 37/10
Liverpool 7/20
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace’s five-match winning streak was ended with a 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City on Sunday. Tony Pulis has promised he will play his strongest possible Crystal Palace team against Liverpool to protect the integrity of the Premier League. With Palace’s top-flight status secure, Pulis had intended to give some of his fringe squad players as well as some youngsters a chance to show what they can do against the league leaders. But Manchester City’s 2-0 win at Palace, on the back of Chelsea’s 2-0 win at Anfield, has blown the title race wide open, with Pulis stating he has a duty to play his best eleven on Monday night. Pulis came into the Crystal Palace hot seat with the club in a state of turmoil: they were six points from safety and had to compete with the unwanted record of being relegated in every single Premier League season that they’d taken part in. However, the former Stoke City boss has completely reversed the fortunes of the Eagles. You’d think that Palace must have had five relatively easy fixtures to put together such a run, but it was far from it. They have taken apart the likes of Chelsea and Everton during their fruitful spell, keeping four clean sheets out of five before their loss to City. Jason Puncheon has been one of the star performers for Crystal Palace in the revival under Pulis, being one of the Eagles’ biggest attacking threats. After failing to score against City, the Reds’ defence should keep a close eye on him here.
Liverpool
Steven Gerrard’s untimely slip moments before the halftime break at Anfield allowed Chelsea’s Demba Ba to score the critical opening goal, an advantage the visitors would never relinquish. Chelsea defended with everything (and everyone) they had in the second half, before killing off the contest with a late breakaway goal from Willian to ice a 2-0 scoreline. The win ended Liverpool’s eleven game winning streak and the Reds will be looking to get back to winning ways here. Not even Brendan Rodgers would have thought his team would be one of the title favourites in just his second season in charge at Anfield. However, he has somehow taken a side who only looked slightly better than average last season and turned them into probable Premier League winners. In Luis Suarez, the Reds have a player who will compete for the next Ballon d’Or. After what looked like the end of his Liverpool career this time last season, he has climbed to new heights and dragged the team upwards with him. The supporting cast of Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling have also had exceptional terms and played their parts to full effect. They will again miss the suspended Jordan Henderson but captain Steven Gerrard will be looking to redeem himself and lift his charges.
VERDICT: Liverpool 7/20
Liverpool have scored 45 goals on the road while Palace have managed just fifteen at home. The Reds won the reverse fixture 3-1 at Anfield and should bounce back from their loss last weekend with a comprehensive win here.
