Liverpool limped into April with things looking downright dire. A 2-1 defeat at Brighton in the league was followed up with a 4-0 defeat at Manchester City in the FA Cup was followed up by a 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain that was a lot more lopsided than the scoreline suggest.
The season up until that point had been very bad and things in the moment were very bad.
Now, while the weight of a shit season without silverware still hangs around their necks and worries about trajectory remain for a side
that has seen its pressing, passing, fitness, and finishing seemingly on a steady decline dating back to at least January of 2025, well, things at least don’t look quite that awful.
Thanks to the Premier League officially securing a fifth Champions League place and with back-to-back league wins giving them a five-point buffer over top chasers Brighton, Arne Slot’s identity-less Reds at least look in pole position to qualify for Europe’s premier cup competition—but there’s still work to do.
“We won the derby obviously [which] was an important game for us and the fans,” Jeremie Frimpong said when asked where things stand for the team at the moment. “The spirits are good now, everyone is excited to go for the match on Saturday.
“Crystal Palace have beaten us three times this season. Obviously we want to show that we can beat them. We’re looking forward to the match. I feel like the matches coming up are really important—five more matches and we want to win all of them.
“I feel like we can do that. Obviously not finish the season on a ‘high’ but we can finish the season on wins. That’s what we want to do so we’ll go for it. We want to finish strongly and get Champions League. These matches are like finals so we’re going to give it our all.”
Palace, though, are never pushovers. As Frimpong highlights, they’ve beat Liverpool three times already this season, in the Community Shield, League Cup, and away in the league. Currently sat 13th and with nothing to play for, they should also be the less motivated of the two sides on Saturday.
“My first match for Liverpool they beat us in the Community Shield,” he added. “They knocked us out of the cup and obviously they beat us at their house. It’s not good getting beat three times so this is another meaningful game. We have to go and show what we’ve got.”
