# Liverpool's set-piece problem travels to the small pitch Iraola warned about

Fenerbahce beat Liverpool on Wednesday from a free-kick, a corner and a long throw, and Andoni Iraola says Selhurst Park's pitch sends every throw-in into the box. Palace have not scored in three league matches and play without Jean-Philippe Mateta, which leaves them looking for goals where Liverpool have just been giving them away.

Preview · Premier League
Editorial board · 7 November 2026 · Updated 2026-11-08 13:05 UTC

- Crystal Palace v Liverpool
- Kick-off: 2026-11-08 14:00 UTC
- Ground: Selhurst Park
- Status: Full time
- Score: Crystal Palace 1 – 3 Liverpool
- Full time: Alexis Mac Allister 40′ · Florian Wirtz 54′ · Alexander Isak 89′ · Eddie Nketiah 90+5′ (penalty)

Andoni Iraola listed the goals himself after Wednesday's 3-2 defeat in Istanbul: "We conceded from a free-kick, a corner, a long throw and that has hurt us." Liverpool had led twice at Fenerbahce, through Trey Nyoni and Alexander Isak, and lost to Muriqi's goal in the 79th minute, three days after Arsenal had won 1-0 at Anfield. On Friday, asked about Selhurst Park, he came back to the same thing: "it's a pitch that is not the biggest pitch, so you feel quickly under pressure", where one throw-in or one long ball goes straight into the box.

Palace have no clearer way to a goal. They have lost their last three league matches without scoring, 5-0 at Brighton, 2-0 at home to Newcastle and 2-0 at Tottenham, and their 21 goals conceded are the most in the division. Mateta lasted 13 minutes at Tottenham before a VAR review turned his yellow card red, and the appeal against his three-match ban failed. Ismaïla Sarr, out with a groin injury, will not be back until after the international break. Eddie Nketiah is expected to lead the line, the man who scored the winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time when Palace last beat Liverpool at Selhurst, 2-1 in September 2025.

Iraola knows his side play two different seasons. "In the Champions League, we are scoring a lot and conceding a lot. In the Premier League, we are scoring less and conceding less," he said. They have let in nine in nine league matches against ten in four in Europe, and they have taken ten points from four league matches away from home.

There is a story in the dugouts too. Palace made Iraola, then at Bournemouth, a leading target to replace Oliver Glasner in the spring; he went to Liverpool in June to succeed Arne Slot, and Palace appointed Pierre Sage from Lens. Last season Palace beat Liverpool three times, in the Community Shield, at Selhurst and in the League Cup at Anfield, before losing 3-1 at Anfield in April.

A third defeat in a row would send Iraola's side into the international break beaten by the club that wanted him, from the kind of ball he spent Friday warning about.

## Our call

Liverpool should win it, narrowly, against a Palace side without a league goal in three matches and without Mateta.

## Coming in

Palace drew 1-1 with Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thursday and are 18th on seven points; Liverpool lost 3-2 at Fenerbahce on Wednesday and are sixth on 15.

## Between them

Liverpool won the last meeting 3-1 at Anfield in April, after Palace had beaten them three times earlier last season: on penalties at Wembley, at Selhurst Park and in the League Cup at Anfield.

## The hinge

All three goals Liverpool conceded at Fenerbahce on Wednesday came from set pieces.

## Missing

Crystal Palace: Jean-Philippe Mateta (red card), Ismaïla Sarr (groin), Chadi Riad (knee), Takehiro Tomiyasu (calf). Liverpool: Jeremie Frimpong (hamstring), Conor Bradley (knee), Hugo Ekitike (Achilles), Giovanni Leoni (knee); doubtful: Ryan Gravenberch (heel).

## Line-ups

Eddie Nketiah starts on the bench, and Daichi Kamada leads Palace's line with Jørgen Strand Larsen and Yéremy Pino behind him. Ryan Gravenberch is not in Liverpool's squad, so Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister hold the midfield behind Florian Wirtz.