Liverpool travel to Selhurst Park on Sunday in the Premier League, with kickoff at 7.30 pm IST, needing an immediate response, and our Liverpool predicted lineup against Crystal Palace shows a manager reaching for stability. Andoni Iraola’s promising start has met its first real test of resilience, a home defeat to reigning champions Arsenal, then a 3-2 Champions League collapse at Fenerbahçe in Istanbul. Fifth in the Premier League with 15 points, Liverpool remain well placed, yet defensive set-piece vulnerabilities keep costing them.
Palace sit 18th and need points badly, although they lose striker Jean-Philippe Mateta to suspension.
Goalkeeper and defence
Alisson Becker keeps his place despite high-profile errors in consecutive games. Iraola will back him again, though every cross and corner will draw scrutiny, and composure matters as much as saves.
The back four changes. Ronald Araújo and Miloš Kerkez are recalled after being left out in Europe, returning to a side that conceded three in Istanbul. Araújo brings recovery pace and aggression on the right, where Conor Bradley (knee, early January 2027) and Jeremie Frimpong (hamstring, mid-November 2026) are both injured. Kerkez offers drive and width on the left.
Jérémy Jacquet partners Virgil van Dijk because Giovanni Leoni is sidelined with a cruciate ligament injury until late November 2026. Van Dijk must organise the line on set pieces, where Liverpool have been most exposed. With Mateta suspended, Palace lose their main focal point in the box, which gives the young Frenchman a gentler task than he might have faced.
Midfield
Ryan Gravenberch is a significant doubt with a heel injury that could last a few days, which would hand teenager Trey Nyoni another start beside Alexis Mac Allister in a 4-2-3-1. Nyoni’s energy and composure suit a job built around shielding the back four, while Mac Allister sets the tempo and covers the space left when the full-backs advance.
Palace will probably sit deep and look to break, so this double pivot must manage transitions and stop Araújo and Kerkez from being isolated. The balance looks sound, but losing Gravenberch’s ball-carrying removes Liverpool’s best route out of pressure, so Mac Allister will need to drop deeper to collect.
Attack
Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, the inform summer signings, carry the heaviest load. Isak leads the line, and his runs in behind suit a Palace side that must commit forward in search of points. Hugo Ekitiké is out with an Achilles tendon injury until early January 2027, so Isak’s place is secure.
Wirtz operates behind him, linking midfield and attack and finding pockets between Palace’s lines. Cody Gakpo and Bradley Barcola provide width, Gakpo drifting inside to support and Barcola running at full-backs with pace. If Wirtz and Isak find rhythm, Liverpool can finally spark life into a side that needs it.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson Becker – Ronald Araujo, Jérémy Jacquet, Virgil van Dijk, Miloš Kerkez – Alexis Mac Allister, Trey Nyoni – Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Bradley Barcola – Alexander Isak.
