Wasteful Liverpool see off Crystal Palace

Diogo Jota's goal kept Liverpool at the top of the Premier League for another week as they beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Selhurst Park.

The Portugal international punished some poor defending to earn Arne Slot's men a third league win on the spin.

Liverpool showed their title pedigree in south London and head into the international break in high spirits ahead of a home clash against Chelsea later this month.

Palace were out of the blocks quickly and had the ball in the net inside a minute, only for Eddie Nketiah's effort to be disallowed.

Jefferson Lerma outmuscled his man to release Ismaila Sarr down the right, but his ball to Nketiah saw the striker start his run too soon and his first-time lifted finish over Alisson was chalked off.

Liverpool sparked into action and a well-worked move saw Jota punish Palace's leaky defence.

Kostas Tsimikas slipped Cody Gakpo down the left and he fizzed a pass into the box where loanee Trevoh Chalobah was caught napping, with Jota nipping in front to tap home.

The goal was typical of Palace's season, with individual errors at the back undoing their quality going forward, and this theme continued as Liverpool's press forced loose passes from the likes of the usually composed Adam Wharton.

The Reds began to take control after the break but spurned several opportunities to put the game beyond Palace with Jota and Salah both guilty of wasting chances they would usually take.

Boss Oliver Glasner needed to make a change and turned to the bench in a bid to find an equaliser.

Targetman Jean-Philippe Mateta came on and his introduction saw Palace enjoy their best spell of the match.

The French forward picked up deeper positions and he combined with Nketiah and Eberechi Eze before his shot forced Alisson into