Klopp’s Palace Mastery: Liverpool Takes Heart in Manager’s Impressive Track Record
The Reds will kick off early this weekend against Crystal Palace in an attempt to build on their back-to-back wins over Sheffield United and Fulham, which have propelled them to second place in the league.
Liverpool is only one point behind Arsenal in the standings, but the Gunners’ trip to third-place Aston Villa on Saturday night will be difficult because Manchester City recently suffered a 1-0 loss at Villa Park.
Jurgen Klopp’s team is under a lot of pressure to take advantage of Arsenal or Villa’s dropped points this weekend, and the Reds have a good chance thanks to Klopp’s stellar record versus Crystal Palace.
In actuality, Klopp has defeated Crystal Palace 12 times in the English top tier, winning more Premier League matches against them than any other team.
That matches his record in the Premier League versus West Ham, whom Liverpool defeated 3-1 this year. In addition to defeating Arsenal twelve times, Klopp has also triumphed twelve times against Nurnberg in Germany, however a few of those victories occurred in cup tournaments.
The two teams that Klopp has won more games against in his career are Freiburg (13), and Leicester City (13), both of whom Liverpool defeated 3-1 in the Carabao Cup earlier this year.
Klopp has faced Palace 16 times; he has won 12, drawn 2, and lost 2. The Reds had defeated the London team 10 times in a row before two consecutive draws with the Eagles the previous season.
Since a double by former Red Christian Benteke in the 2016–17 campaign, Klopp is unbeaten against Palace.
If everything goes according to plan, Klopp will defeat Palace this Saturday to extend his winning Premier League record to 13.