Liverpool finally lifted the curse of Crystal Palace on a sun-kissed, restorative afternoon at Anfield where Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz scored, third choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman took the acclaim of the Kop and Arne Slot’s side climbed to fourth in the Premier League. Of course, this season being what it is for the champions, there had to be a sting to a third consecutive league win.

Mohamed Salah hobbled off with an apparent hamstring injury that could threaten his involvement in the remainder of his final season with Liverpool. It certainly appeared that way as the Anfield great applauded all four sides of the ground before heading straight down the tunnel. There were also mass protests inside and outside the stadium against Liverpool’s decision to increase ticket prices for the next three seasons. “You greedy bastards, enough is enough,” reverberated around Anfield as the vast majority of fans showed yellow cards to Liverpool owners, Fenway Sports Group.

But for Slot, a first win of the season in four meetings with Oliver Glasner’s team, who may have had one eye on Thursday’s Conference League semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk, was the priority as Champions League qualification moved a step closer.

Palace started well with Adam Wharton controlling central midfield and Jean-Philippe Mateta occupying Liverpool’s central defenders to allow Brennan Johnson and Ismaïla Sarr to threaten. Anfield was just becoming a little unsettled, and not only on account of ticket price protests, when Liverpool were awarded a penalty for an apparent trip by Johnson on Salah, who stumbled to the ground long after the forward’s challenge. The referee, Andy Madley, overturned his initial decision following a pitch-side review that confirmed Johnson had played the ball first. The incident, however, had a galvanising effect on the home team who took command of the contest with two goals in the space of five minutes.

Salah, who linked well with Wirtz during his 59 minutes on the pitch, was central to Liverpool’s improvement and an opening goal that would have brought pure relief to Isak. Too strong for Jaydee Canvot, the Egypt international muscled the Palace defender aside to break into the area where his cross was headed away by Chris Richards. Alexis Mac Allister arrived with a low shot that was heading wide until Isak controlled near the penalty spot and swept his second touch into the ground and over the stranded Dean Henderson. Isak may have scuffed the effort but, given this season’s toils, the sight of the ball looping into the Palace net for his first league goal for Liverpool at Anfield will have been sweet regardless.

Slot’s side quickly doubled their lead from a blistering counterattack instigated by Woodman’s superb save from Mateta. The third choice goalkeeper, making his first league start for Liverpool against the club he supported and joined as a boy, reacted brilliantly to tip away the centre-forward’s close range header. Mateta was flagged offside but Madley played a good advantage as Liverpool broke via Ibrahima Konaté, Wirtz and Curtis Jones. Jones deputised impressively at right-back for the second game in succession and split the Palace defence with an inch-perfect pass to fellow full-back Andy Robertson. The Scotland captain sprinted on and, with Anfield imploring Robertson to mark one of his final home appearances with a goal, he obliged with a clinical finish low into the far corner.

Woodman made another fine save to claw away Maxence Lacroix’s header from a corner, prompting a chorus of ‘England’s number one’ from the Kop. There was a chorus of disapproval following the stand-in’s next important intervention midway through the second half as Palace got back into the contest with a highly controversial goal. Woodman came off his line sharply to smother Sarr’s shot after the Palace forward was played through by substitute Yéremy Pino. But the keeper caught his studs in the turf and injured his knee as he did so. While Woodman lay on the ground in pain and Liverpool players urged Daniel Muñoz to put the ball out of play, the Palace wing-back chipped the loose ball into an unguarded net. No Paolo Di Canio he.

Slot and Virgil van Dijk both argued with the Palace bench as Woodman received lengthy treatment before continuing. If their protestations were for Palace to allow Liverpool to score a third and restore their two-goal advantage, they were sent packing. Muñoz was booed every time he touched the ball thereafter and hit on the head with a ball by a Liverpool fan when attempting to take a throw-in in front of the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand.

Jørgen Strand Larsen had a glorious chance to darken Liverpool’s mood further when played through by Wharton late on. The Palace substitute’s low shot beat Woodman but hit the inside of one post, trickled across the line and struck the other. He appeared to be offside but Palace were awarded a corner.

The visitors created several promising situations to salvage a draw but failed to capitalise. They were punished deep into stoppage time when Mac Allister touched a long throw by Joe Gomez into the path of Wirtz who drilled an excellent shot across Henderson and in off the far post.