Disputed Fabinho penalty helps tiring Liverpool limp over the line

For a while it felt as though Liverpool were about to let another Premier League title slip from their grasp at Selhurst Park .

Jurgen Klopp’s exhausted side looked as if they were playing on fumes. Nine of them had played a gruelling League Cup semifinal against Arsenal on Thursday night.

Two nights’ sleep, some ice packs, some light training and then back on the bus. Crystal Palace were 2-1 down but well on top. Chances came and went.

But Liverpool held on. With a full 18 days until their next league fixture, they gave it one last push and even managed to burgle a third goal, a richly undeserved penalty converted by Fabinho to give them a little breathing space. Now they can rest up a little, recharge their batteries, welcome back Mo Salah and Sadio Mané from international duty. In the meantime there is still just about a title race.

Liverpool were scrappy but decisive when it mattered. Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got the two crucial first-half goals. Jordan Henderson was magnificent in midfield. Curtis Jones never stopped. Trent Alexander-Arnold was beginning to puffeven before the end of the first half but in the dying minutes somehow still managed to produce the pass of the match, a devastating 60-yard diagonal ball from which Diogo Jota won the late penalty.

As for Palace, it was a familiar story: a nice performance, hampered by their irritating habit of finding themselves 2-0 down after half an hour.