Liverpool trained at the AXA Training Centre on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s 3pm BST Premier League kick-off with Crystal Palace, and Freddie Woodman finds himself living the moment: he is poised to make his full Premier League debut while Alisson Becker is not a guarantee to start.
If Woodman plays, it would be only his second start for Liverpool — a sharp, immediate change for a club that needed Virgil van Dijk’s 100th-minute header to beat Everton in the Merseyside derby last weekend. Palace arrive off a 0-0 draw with West Ham United on Monday, but their preparations have been rocked by goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili’s knee wound. Mamardashvili suffered that injury trying to prevent Beto’s equaliser last weekend, required hospitalisation and is expected to miss two to four weeks.
The concrete numbers underline why the match matters now. Liverpool sit fifth in the table, five points clear of Brighton & Hove Albion and with a game in hand, and their recent home record shows only one defeat in the last 10 top-flight home games. Palace, meanwhile, have gone four unbeaten in the Premier League since a narrow defeat to Manchester United in March and have seven victories from their last 14 matches in all competitions.
Palace’s standing as FA Cup and Community Shield holders, and their run to the Conference League semi-finals, add strain to the fixture list: they travel to Poland five days after the Anfield match for the first leg against Shakhtar Donetsk. That scheduling pressure comes on top of the immediate loss of Mamardashvili, forcing decisions about who starts between the posts and how manager Oliver Glasner manages minutes across competitions.
There is a genuine tension at the heart of the preview. Glasgow’s record against Liverpool in 2025 under Glasner — three wins and one draw across the Premier League, the EFL Cup and the Community Shield — means Palace are not a side Liverpool can take lightly despite the visitors’ European commitments. At the same time, Palace’s 0-0 with West Ham and a depleted goalkeeping situation could blunt the momentum they have shown across seven wins in 14 matches.
For a quick liverpool vs crystal palace prediction: the tie will likely be decided by two factors Liverpool control — who is in goal for both clubs and how Palace manage their travel to Poland five days later. If Woodman starts, his lack of Premier League experience (only one previous start) will be measured against Liverpool’s recent solidity at Anfield and the club’s broader task of securing Champions League football for 2026-27.
Given Liverpool’s position — in the driving seat for next season’s Champions League and with one defeat in 10 top-flight home games — the most supported conclusion is that Liverpool are best placed to protect their run of results. But the single biggest unanswered match variable is the goalkeeper selection: with Alisson not assured and Mamardashvili sidelined for two to four weeks, the side that solves its goalkeeping puzzle first will most likely take the points at 3pm BST on Saturday.
