Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace: 3 possible X-Factors on Matchday 38

Crystal Palace’s wingers

Although Liverpool are the heavy favorites in former manager Roy Hodgson’s farewell match, Crystal Palace have a couple of quality players who could give the Reds serious trouble if they decide to turn things up to the level they are capable of.

Yes, I am firstly talking about right winger Andros Townsend, who has scored some of the Premier League’s finest goals over the years. And then there is the star man, Wilfried Zaha, whose dribbling skills and experience make him one of the best wingers in the league.

Zaha is in the prime of his career at 28 and leads the Eagles with 11 goals scored this season. He has drawn a whopping three fouls per game with 1.8 dribbles completed, per WhoScored.com, and it’s his ability to draw fouls that could cause Liverpool issues. Teams like Palace thrive off set pieces opportunities against the big clubs. But as we saw at Turf Moor, the Reds have shown they can avoid giving up too many set pieces when they need to.

As for Townsend, he only has one goal this season, but he is averaging more key passes per game than Zaha (1.2 vs. 1.0) with five total assists. He’s a consistently above-average player for Crystal Palace, but as we have seen in the past, he can find a new gear when the occasion calls for it. Liverpool will have to be careful with him.