And with Jonathan Liew’s match report there for you all to enjoy, I’ll bid you good evening. Thanks for reading, thanks for emailing, see you soon.

23 Jan 202211.22 EST

Jonathan Liew

“For a while, it felt as if Liverpool were about to let another Premier League title slip from their grasp at Selhurst Park. Jürgen Klopp’s exhausted side looked as if they were playing on fumes. Nine of them had played a gruelling League Cup semi-final against Arsenal on Thursday night.”

Arsenal 0-0 Burnley. A match report:

Samuel has a different view on email: “Watching that match as a Palace fan, I thought it was a stonewall penalty at the time, so had thought we’d gotten away with it ... Frustrated by the result - We did so well to fashion openings but just weren’t clinical. Not our day.”

Peter Lansley’s report from Brighton’s 1-1 draw at Leicester:

Liverpool’s win means they trail Manchester City by nine points with a game in hand.

Suzanne Wrack reports from Manchester United’s 3-0 win against Tottenham in the WSL:

Will Unwin’s MBM-ing Chelsea v Spurs, LIVE, right here:

Remember last month and the furore around the penalty that wasn’t, for Liverpool at Tottenham, when Paul Tierney insisted Diogo Jota had wanted the contact? Maybe Tierney had a point after all ...

Vieira’s thoughts should be interesting, anyway. Presuming they’re shown on the telly I’ll type them up ...

On the plus side, Palace played some lovely stuff, and Liverpool played some lovely stuff, but neither side ever looked fully comfortable in defence. The Liverpool full-backs Alexander-Arnold and Robertson are both happiest when Liverpool are on the front foot, with their opponents pinned back, but when the boot is on the other foot, Liverpool can be got at.

A brief email from Martin arrives, entitled ‘Gross decision’: “Makes me sick. And I’m a Red.”

Well, that was quite eventful and slightly strange. Liverpool got over the line after a dominant opening ... but Palace will be rightly disgusted with the penalty won by Jota in the closing minutes. Patrick Vieira sends a few pointed words in the direction of the match officials as they leave the pitch.

90 min + 5: “I’m a Liverpool fan so I’ll obviously take it but I would be livid if it was the other way round,” emails Sam. “Never a pen for me; Jota no longer had control of the ball and went into Guita pretty directly.”

90min + 4: Gallagher swings in another free-kick from the right wing. Liverpool clear comfortably enough. It’s hard to escape the deflating feeling that a laughably poor decision, to award Liverpool that penalty after a long VAR review, has robbed us of an exciting finish.

90 min + 2: We’ll have a minimum of six minutes added on. Palace win a free-kick in the Liverpool half. Nothing comes of it.

90 min: Mac’s emailed again: “Jota misses the ball, so then shuffles toward the keeper to initiate contact. And besides, the VAR people looked at it for so long, how could it possibly have been a clear and obvious error? What’s the point any more?”

I agree.

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89 min: “A horrible, horrible decision,” emails Mac, with regards to the penalty. I agree. Even Jamie Carragher on commentary was saying it wasn’t a penalty. Jota clearly stepped into Guaita and initiated the contact.

Fabinho steps up and passes the ball coolly into the corner. That is surely the game for Liverpool. Palace will be livid with the decision. The crowd make their feelings known.

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I think Jota has bought that. But it’s a penalty. Fabinho will take.

85 min: Jota sprints on to a brilliant pass by Alexander-Arnold, deep into the Palace area. He tries to flick the ball beyond Guaita but misses it ... He is then brought to the ground by Guaita, looking for the contact, and now we have a lengthy VAR check for a penalty ... I think this would be a ludicrous decision if Liverpool get a penalty. Jota has blatantly played for that and brought the contact about himself, if you ask me.

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83 min: Olise nearly lobs Alisson and makes it 2-2 but the goalie claws the ball out for a corner! The Palace man sprints on to a ball over the top and hits it first time. It is looping into the net, for sure, but Alisson does extremely well to run back and bat the ball out, crashing into the post as he does so.

81 min: Jones makes a bright run on the left wing for Liverpool and is felled by Schlupp. Schlupp is booked. James Milner is coming on for Liverpool. Klopp is looking to shore things up and hang on to this 2-1 lead with Liverpool’s Mr Dependable.

78 min: A hopeful ball over the top from Palace is headed back to Alisson by Robertson, tracking back at full pace. There’s a slight scare for Liverpool, though, as Alisson has come a little too far towards the ball and has to react quickly to stop it bouncing past him and towards the open goal ... anyway, he manages to sort it out.

77 min: Hughes and Mateta go off – Benteke and Ayew come on for Palace. Vieira is throwing the kitchen sink at Liverpool. Or is it everything but the kitchen sink? He’s trying to get a goal, anyway.

75 min: Liverpool construct a lovely passing move in which Alexander-Arnold is the fulcrum. He gets his foot on the ball once, then twice, bending a trademark cross to the far post. But the move fizzles out.

73 min: Olise clips a cultured ball infield for Gallagher who is advancing into the area. He controls it but it flicks his hand as he does so and the ref awards a free-kick to Liverpool.

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72 min: Fabinho smacks a shot from distance for Liverpool. Guaita gets down to make a comfortable save. Liverpool have steadied the ship once again, after a spell of rampant running and attacking by Palace and their all-action front three. But here they come again ...

69 min: Liverpool pump a ball into the Palace box from distance. The Eagles deal with it easily. Liverpool look short of ideas in attack, all of a sudden, while Palace carry a threat every time they go forward. Eze races down the left for Palace and plays in Schlupp but Liverpool eventually get a goal kick.

65 min: Minamino replaced Oxlade-Chamberlain for Liverpool a few minutes ago, and now Eze comes on for Éduoard for Palace, both managers looking to some fresh legs for the final quarter of the match.

61 min: Liverpool keep the ball for a spell in the Palace half. The home crowd, deafening a couple of minutes ago, calm down a little. Palace stroke the ball around at the back and nearly get caught out by the Liverpool press, with Guaita forced to loft the ball out for a throw in on the Palace right. Liverpool look comfortable when they have Palace pinned back, but very shaky when they’re on the back foot themselves.

57 min: Selhurst Park is rocking! Now Andersen pounces on a half-cleared ball and cracks a powerful left-footed shot which flies fractionally wide! Klopp will be having kittens.

Again a lot of space opens up in the midfield for Palace to attack. Schlupp runs forward and angles a good low ball which cuts through the Liverpool defence and beats the offside trap. Mateta is one-on-one with Alisson but shows great awareness to lay the ball off to his left for Édouard, who tucks the ball into an open goal with a minimum of fuss. Game on: and Vieira’s men unquestionably deserve that goal.

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52 min: Palace have done well to fight back into this. Liverpool’s dominance was almost complete for the first half an hour or so. As I type, it’s nearly 3-0: Alexander-Arnold’s cross finds Henderson who takes a smart touch and then shoots on the turn. His effort flashes wide of the post. Seconds later Henderson has another shot from outside the area which is blocked.

48 min: Alisson makes another save as Eduoard tries a backheel from a couple of yards out! Palace could seriously have had four goals in the past 10 minutes, before and after half time.

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47 min: Gallagher misses another big chance for Palace! Olise is released down the right in tonnes of space. Liverpool rush back to cover but after a smart turn away from Robertson, Olise fires a ball into the danger zone. Mateta is lurking at the far post, but before the ball gets to him, Gallagher gets a touch on the ball with a flicked header and it flies out for a goal kick on the far side of the goal from where Olise hit the cross.

Here we go for the second half. Palace get things started. Can they find a way back?