Jurgen Klopp reveals what he told Alisson after Liverpool beat Crystal Palace

Jurgen Klopp has revealed what he told ‘world class’ Alisson after Liverpool closed the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City with a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.

First-half goals from Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put Liverpool in control at Selhurst Park but Odsonne Edouard halved the deficit after half-time.

Palace pushed for an equaliser but Liverpool were awarded a controversial penalty late on and Fabinho slotted home to put the game to bed.

Alisson made a number of saves to thwart the Eagles and Klopp admitted afterwards that the Brazilian goalkeeper ‘saved our backside’.

Klopp told Sky Sports: ‘I said to him just now, “thank you for saving our backside again”. He said, “that’s my job”. Of course it is very helpful to have a world-class goalkeeper at the back!’

The Liverpool boss added: ‘It was a bit Jekyll and Hyde football today. You could see how good we can be. We were incredible in the first 35 minutes.

‘Then after an intense week – away at Arsenal – I don’t have any real explanation but the intensity might be one. We became sloppy in the last line.

‘In the second half we were not compact, the first line pressed too high and the distance was not right. We played a high line and did not catch them offside which was our fault of course.’

With Premier League title favourites Manchester City dropping two points at Southampton on Saturday, Liverpool are now nine points behind their title rivals with a game in hand.

Klopp said: ‘The distance is too far to talk about it but we don’t have to. We just need to win football matches.

‘Each Premier League game is difficult like we saw today. We made it more exciting than necessary! We will see what happens in the final few months.’

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