Liverpool were certainly far from their best at Crystal Palace on Saturday, but fought back for a vital three points as they won 2-1 at Selhurst Park.
For the majority of their early kickoff, the Reds appeared to be coasting to a costly defeat, struggling to produce anything against a lowly Palace side.
But a second-half red card for Jordan Ayew, when the hosts were 1-0 up, turned the tide, with Mohamed Salah scoring his 200th goal for Liverpool soon after.
Harvey Elliott then struck the winner having come off the penalty bench, to maintain Liverpool’s hopes of winning the title come May.
So who stood out for better or worse in a rollercoaster victory?
Here we compare our player ratings with those of the Liverpool Echo, the Evening Standard, GOAL, FotMob and This Is Anfield’s readers.
There were two leading candidates for Man of the Match, with Alisson (8.1) edging out Virgil van Dijk (7.8) in the average ratings.
Though Van Dijk could have conceded a penalty in the first half, only to be ruled out for an earlier foul on Wataru Endo, the Dutchman largely shone, with the Echo‘s Ian Doyle lauding “another excellent showing.”
Alisson‘s return to the side was pivotal, as he made two crucial saves after three games out, with This Is Anfield’s Karl Matchett describing his last-minute stop to deny Joachim Andersen as “absurd.”
Unsurprisingly next up was Salah (7.0), who netted the equaliser, though FotMob statistics highlight him for another reason, having made the second-most recoveries of any Liverpool player (seven).
Some of the lowest scores were reserved for the quiet trio of Ryan Gravenberch (5.4), Luis Diaz (5.2) and Endo (5.0).
Dom Smith for the Evening Standard pointed out Gravenberch’s early withdrawal in the second half, having “made little impression on proceedings.”
GOAL’s Tom Maston appeared to be watching a different game entirely, though, with a six out of 10 for Van Dijk, a five out of 10 for Salah and a two out of 10 for Darwin Nunez.
Nunez (4.7), whose average rating was a squad-low, was criticised as leaving his side “basically playing with 10 men,” which seems overly harsh.
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