Crystal Palace 0-7 Liverpool: Seven Talking Points

Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah bagged folds in South London when Takumi Minamino, Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson were also on the Reds’ scoresheet.

Here are seven party talking points …

Palace 0-7 Liverpool: Watch the best moments now

Top of the tree at Christmas

Three points in the bag means Liverpool will spend Christmas Day at the top of the Premier League.

It will be the third year in a row that Jürgen Klopp’s team has been in first place on December 25.

They confirmed their status as leaders of the current league with truly sublime goals at Selhurst Park.

“Today, obviously, everyone wore their finishing boots,” Klopp assessed later.

Perhaps the most visually pleasing ending was the third: a classic Liverpool move back and forth.

Trent Alexander-Arnold passed the ball to Firmino from his right-back position before the receiver switched the game to Andy Robertson on the left.

Robertson advanced and then fired a perfect pass into the box that was guided to the back of the net by Firmino’s push after his lung-breaking run.

Continuing the theme of impressive goals, Henderson then snuggled into a beauty from outside the box early in the second half.

Not to be outdone though, Salah’s second was a beautiful flexing effort from the distance he found the top corner, leaving the goalkeeper with no chances.

Records galore

Where do you start?

The result was the first time that the club had recorded an away win in the top flight by a margin of seven goals.

It also turned out to be Klopp’s 127th league win, which saw him overtake Rafael Benítez to become Liverpool’s winningest coach in Premier League history.

Making it 7-0, Salah scored Liverpool’s 600th goal in competitive matches with Klopp. That total comes after 288 games in charge, less than any other coach in club history.

All of the Reds’ goals on Saturday were assisted by different players, making it the first time in league history that there have been seven different assists for a team in one game.

And Mane, meanwhile, took his usual aim on Palace, winking at supporter Lee Swan with your celebration. At 10, the sprinter is the highest-scoring player against the Eagles in Premier League history.

What a day.

Connection in the final third

As for the scorers and those in attendance, it is worth remembering that Salah only played 33 minutes of the match.

Starting on the bench, with Klopp aware of his recent workload, the number 11’s first major participation saw him prostrate in an exquisite direct pass to Firmino.

Salah’s fellow forward passed to goal and proceeded to delicately pass the ball over goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

That pass was the seventeenth time Salah and Firmino have combined to score a Premier League goal for Liverpool.

Only Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman have combined to score more goals for the club in the competition with 24. We all expect their lead to diminish between now and the end of the season.

Off the blocks

“Don’t let us waste the first half again!” Georginio Wijnaldum yelled before Tottenham Hotspur’s win midweek, according to Klopp.

Liverpool followed that order at Selhurst Park to devastating effect. It only took 125 seconds to establish an advantage.

That’s the club’s fastest goal away from home in the Premier League since November 2014, when Rickie Lambert scored after 90 seconds coincidentally at Palace.

There is evidence to support Wijnaldum’s request: Klopp’s men have now only lost one of their last 94 top flight matches when they scored the first goal.

Minamino’s milestone

Exactly one year after signing on the points line for the Reds, Minamino marked the anniversary with his first Premier League goal.

With just two minutes left, he displayed the poise and skill that saw Liverpool push him away from Salzburg.

Receiving Mane’s pass inside the box, the number 18 faked a shot for the first time to create space for himself before launching an emphatic shot in the bottom corner.

In doing so, Minamino became the seventh Japanese player to score in a Premier League match.

Andy the assistant

Determination and the good end product came from Robertson to provide the assist for Firmino’s first breakaway goal. It is not the first time we have seen it since number 26.

Since August 2018, only one Premier League player has racked up more assists than Robertson. The left-back count of 28 puts him one behind Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne.

“I am happy to contribute and obviously I am delighted with 28 assists and I hope there are many more to come,” Robertson reacted.

Behind the Scotsman at 27 is his sideline teammate Alexander-Arnold, who added to his total Saturday by putting the ball down for Henderson’s strike.

Ox makes a return

Another positive aspect of Palace’s victory was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s return to action.

“Probably the best view of all was seeing Ox back on the field,” said teammate Robertson after the game.

The midfielder replaced Firmino with 15 minutes remaining, marking his first appearance of the season. The number 15 had been out of the game since sustaining a knee injury during pre-season training camp in Austria.

But he made an impact when he played the pass to Salah’s curling iron at the end.

“Back in business!” he stated on Instagram.