EFL Cup: Eagles Aim for a Liverpool Hat-Trick

Liverpool vs Crystal Palace

Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace heads to Merseyside on Wednesday in the EFL Cup fourth round, in search of an incredible hat-trick of wins over Arne Slot’s Liverpool.

The Reds’ uneasy relationship with the Eagles began at the Community Shield in August as Palace beat Liverpool, to add another piece of silverware to the FA Cup they picked up in May. And then in September, a late goal from Eddie Nketiah gave the Londoners a 2-1 victory at Selhurst Park, ending Liverpool’s five match winning start to the season and opening up a four match losing run for the reigning champions.

This is not the team Slot would have chosen to face at this moment in time.      

Both clubs saw off Championship teams in the last round. Liverpool beat Southampton 2-1 to reach the last 16 while Palace overcame Millwall on penalties after playing out a 1-1 draw with their London rivals. The EFL Cup 2025 betting odds say this is a wide open competition, with Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea all backed to go deep…but if Palace manage to upset Liverpool again they will be a feared opponent in the quarter finals. 

Neither team will be happy at the moment, both losing at the weekend. While Liverpool were turned over 3-2 by Brentford, Crystal Palace lost 1-0 to league leaders Arsenal, and I expect to see changes to both team line-ups. 

Here at SBOTOP we’ll be back with the EFL Cup 2025 updates on Wednesday, but in the meantime let’s take a closer look at the two squads.   

 

Talking Points

More injury worries for Pool

If losing to the Bees wasn’t bad enough for Slot, Liverpool’s trip to Brentford threw up another headache for the Dutch head coach as midfielder Curtis Jones took a knock and was substituted on 70 minutes. The 24 year old will take a late fitness test, as will another midfielder, Ryan Gravenberch, and striker Alexander Isak, while keeper Alisson Becker and wingback Jeremie Frimpong are both out of contention.

Now every team has injury problems; and it’s impossible to argue that Liverpool don’t have a deep and talented squad, but the potential loss of Jones at a time when he has become one of the team’s the most influential players is more bad news for Slot. Jones’ passing range and careful use of the ball is a huge asset to a team which can play possession football and can be devastating on the break. 

I expect Slot to field as strong a side as he can, desperate to haul his team out of the doldrums and the likes of Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai will look to dominate up front and in the middle, while Liverpool fans are still hoping for more from winger Florian Wirtz.  

 

Glasner may shuffle his pack

While Slot’s opposite number Glasner doesn’t have any new injury concerns, a run of four games without a win may prompt him to make some changes on Wednesday, to give some players a rest and freshen up his team. The manager has, up to now, relied on a core group of players, with a backbone of Dean Henderson in goal, skipper Marc Guehi at central defence, Adam Wharton in midfield and Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Phillipe Mateta up front.

Nketiah, who has already traumatised Liverpool this season could well come in for Mateta, as Sarr has a good record against the Reds too. Another ex Liverpool man, Nathanial Clyne, will be keen to start at wingback while Justin Devenny could slot in if Wharton takes a back seat.     

 

History

Liverpool have won 37 of the last 68 meetings with Palace, drawing 14 and losing 17; though the Eagles have had the upper hand so far this year.

The Reds are ten times EFL Cup winners, the last time in 2024 when they beat Chelsea 1-0 in the final thanks to a goal from captain Virgil Van Dijk. Palace haven’t enjoyed any previous success in this competition, in fact only once in the past six years have they progressed beyond the fourth round, beaten by Arsenal in last season’s quarter finals.

But the Eagles are, of course, FA Cup holders and this group of Eagles has a taste for success. 

This is a meeting of two teams out of sorts at the moment. The Eagles are without a victory in four and have won two, drawn one and lost three of the last six games in all competitions. But get this…Liverpool have one win and five defeats in that time!  

 

Betting Tip

Liverpool are the hot favourites to win this match at odds of 1.54 with Palace at 4.75 and the Draw is at 4.20. This is not easy to call given Liverpool’s shocking run of form but the Reds did hammer Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League last week. But Palace are a tidy outfit with a real punch and I suspect it may be another bad night for Liverpool against the Eagles.  

   

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