Crystal Palace hosts Liverpool at Selhurst Park on Saturday, in the final game before club football temporarily pauses for another international break.
Liverpool is currently top of the and could remain there over the international break with a win in the early Saturday game, offering them the chance to move four points clear of both and . Palace needs a result, as its form at the end of last season hasn't continued and the team is currently in the relegation zone.
was once a bogey team for Liverpool and infamously secured a 3-3 draw during the 2013/14 season to derail the Reds' title charge. However, Liverpool hasn't lost on the road against Palace since 2014 and were never beaten at Selhurst Park under former head coach .
It'll be the first time that new head coach has faced Palace, and head coach to the one that lost 2-1 to Everton last week. The lack of changes will benefit Slot, who has been.
Glasner believes in his 3-4-2-1 formation and is expected to roll with Eberechi Eze and Eddie Nketiah behind striker Jean-Philippe Mateta once again. Tyreek Mitchell and Daniel Munoz continue to be an asset for Palace in the wing-back roles, and Marc Guehi, Maxence Lacroix, and Jefferson Lerma are likely to be named in a back-three once again.
With goalkeeper Dean Henderson and midfielder Adam Wharton crucial players for Palace, the only question is whether Glasner will stick with Daichi Kamada in midfield or call upon Will Hughes as a more defensive approach. Whichever team starts to face Liverpool, Slot has shown a lot of respect to Palace while also complaining about the Premier League schedule.
Liverpool beat Bologna 2-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Slot's first under the Anfield lights. Still, they were selected to play in the opening game of the Premier League weekend at 12:30 p.m. local time, allowing for just two days to recover and prepare.
In Friday's pre-match press conference, Slot said of Palace and the Premier League schedule: "You always look at the first one and that's Crystal Palace. I think they already showed how tough of an opponent they are against the big teams, like [Manchester] United and Chelsea. In both situations, they got a result.
"That's the first game and that's why it's the most important one, and a difficult one for us: 12.30 kick-off after playing on Wednesday evening late in the Champions League, facing again a team that has a whole week to prepare. But that is part of working at a top club, that we face those teams and we have to be ready for those teams.
"And that's what we are tomorrow. I don't look at this moment about one point, three points, four points; it's after the weekend then it's interesting to look at the league table and not after the game we've played. I said many times when it comes to us and I said it also in relation to Wolves last week, that if you play six games it's so hard to judge the league table.
"The weird thing or maybe that's not weird, but they got some results against United and Chelsea, two top teams. The other results were not as they would have probably wanted it. Last season they finished really strong. Lost one or two good players, that's also clear.
"I said it about Wolves last week and I can say the same about this team, that they will do better during the season. Hopefully not tomorrow, of course."
Crystal Palace predicted team: Henderson; Lacroix, Guehi, Lerma; Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Eze, Nketiah, Mateta.
Liverpool predicted team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Jota.
