London, Dec 10 (IANS): Mohammad Salah's 150th Premier League goal and substitute Harvey Elliott's stoppage-time strike earn Liverpool a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, climbing to the top of the table.
It was the fifth time Liverpool had come from behind to win this season, extending their unbeaten record against Palace to 13 Premier League games.
The first half was a cagey affair on Saturday. Liverpool struggled to break down a resolute Palace team, whose 53 passes completed was their joint-lowest such total for an opening half in 20 years, Premier League reports.
The only shot on target came from Palace in the 27th minute. Jordan Ayew drove down the right and whipped in a cross that found Jefferson Lerma at the back post, but the midfielder’s shot was brilliantly saved by Alisson before the ball hit the post and was cleared.
Two minutes later, Palace were awarded a penalty after Wataru Endo was robbed of the ball and Virgil van Dijk brought down Odsonne Edouard who was through on goal. But the spot-kick was overturned after a VAR review found that Hughes had fouled Endo in the build-up.
At half-time both managers made changes as Liverpool replaced Endo with Joe Gomez and Palace replaced Edouard with Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Mateta got straight into the action, winning a penalty after being fouled by Jarell Quansah, who was making only his second start. The decision to award the spot-kick came after a VAR review one minute 45 seconds after the foul. He then stepped up and sent Alisson the wrong way to give Palace the lead on 57 minutes. In the 74th minute, Ayew was sent off for a second yellow after fouling Elliott on the counter-attack.
Liverpool equalised 98 seconds later. Cody Gakpo’s cross led to a scramble in the box and the ball fell kindly to Salah, who scored with a deflected shot. It was his 200th goal in a Liverpool shirt and his 150th in the Premier League, entering him into the top 10 goalscorers list, alongside Michael Owen.
Ten seconds into 10 minutes of added time Elliott gave the Reds the lead. Salah laid off the ball to the substitute who drove forward and released a powerful shot beating substitute 'keeper Remi Matthews.
Palace applied some late pressure but were unable to stop Liverpool increasing their points won from losing positions to 18, sending them top with 37 points. Palace remain 14th on 16 points.