All the build-up ahead of this clash was to do with Steven Gerrard, and rightly so. The 34-year-old has been Liverpool's most important player for over a decade and has asserted himself as a living legend in the Kop folklore, and this match was always going to be about the English midfielder.
He was given a touching tribute before the match by the two teams as well as the match officials and supporters around the ground in Merseyside, a guard of honour as well as songs being sung throughout the 90 minutes in what would be Stevie's last home fixture in a Reds' shirt. When you put it like that, it makes the fact that such a pivotal player over the years is leaving his boyhood club. Back in January, it had not sunk in, even after his official announcement was made that he was going to join MLS side LA Galaxy in the summer. He's already being linked with a managerial role in the not-too-distant future with LFC, when he eventually retires in what has been a stellar career for him. Just goes to show how vital he's been to the club; scoring crucial goals, creating chances galore, winning countless trophies and sharing it all with the fans across the world who love and admire him.
Jamie Carragher, Gerrard's former team-mate and fellow legend before the game had this to say about Stevie: "Without him, I wouldn't have a medal collection. There's no doubt about that. I'm not ashamed to say that. Steven Gerrard, in all those trophies we won, was the main man and the driving force behind it."
The only thing people were forgetting, was there was still a match to be played in the evening kick-off. A perfect send-off for SG8, would be a home victory in his last game there, of course, but that'd be a challenging feat against the organised side assembled by Alan Pardew for sure. Liverpool had secured their place in next season's UEFA Europa League after a turbulent few months signalled the end of their faint Champions League hopes, whilst Palace were safe from relegation in mid-table, 12th place.
The match itself, started slowly. Adam Lallana came close to testing Wayne Hennessey in the Palace goal after 17 minutes, following a neat piece of build-up play with Jordan Henderson to his left, but the eventual opportunity went begging in the end. Yannick Bolasie did well to skip past a few challenges on the flank near the edge of the area before releasing a teasing strike, which took a deflection and bobbled narrowly wide of Simon Mignolet's far post.
In the 26th minute, the deadlock was broken. Lallana anticipated a defensive mistake from the visitors, pounced on it quickly and ran towards the area before firing his shot high and accurately into the roof of the net, with Hennessey unable to do anything to stop the well-taken finish in truth. The creative Englishman celebrated by turning around and running to embrace his captain, Gerrard, with all his team-mates bundling onto the midfield duo in what was sure to be a great moment for LFC fans to rejoice.
Palace did their best to get back into the match, but were not clinical enough as they pressed for an equaliser. Bolasie came close again, using his pace and agility to threaten the Liverpool backline time and time again, whilst in-form Jason Puncheon was unlucky not to level the scoring, but for a good stop parried over the crossbar by Mignolet, with the Belgian eager to keep a clean sheet and win this season's Golden Glove after an inconsistent start to the campaign.
Raheem Sterling saw his goal-scoring effort comfortably held by Hennessey as the score was still in Liverpool's favour, but not for long. Emre Can brought down Bolasie on the edge of the area as the Congolese forward's driving runs towards goal were simply too much to handle, and Puncheon stepped over a 20-yard free-kick. He purposely put the top of his shirt to cover his mouth, so no-one would know what he was plotting. The execution of the set-piece, was to perfection. A sublime strike, sending Mignolet the wrong way with a swerving effort into the bottom corner of the net over the wall within a flash, gave Palace a well-deserved equaliser having had plenty of chances to score earlier on.
The half-time whistle blew a few minutes later, with the scores level at one-each. Apart from a few half-chances as well as the two strikes, the game itself was drab and needed a spark, something which in fairness, Yannick Bolasie provided throughout for the Eagles.
As the second-half began, neither side made any alterations. The game was end-to-end as the second period started, Puncheon and Henderson both had chances but neither were on target, before Jordon Ibe saw his shot from close range hit the side netting from an acute angle. A half-hearted penalty appeal was waved away by the referee as Lee Chung-Yong was brought down by Martin Skrtel inside the area, but the Slovakian reacted angrily, suggesting that the South Korean midfielder went down theatrically to try and win a spot-kick for his team.
Philippe Coutinho had a shot fired over the crossbar after being teed off on the edge of the box by Sterling, and former Manchester United winger Wilfried Zaha was introduced into the action with 32 minutes to play in place of Chung-Yong. Then, with his first touch of the evening, the English forward managed to put Palace ahead with an easy tap-in slot from Bolasie's low ball fired towards him near the byline! Palace came back from a goal down, and were suddenly finding themselves the party poopers at Anfield, two-one up.
Just like that, Liverpool found themselves behind, albeit with a hint of offside about the strike itself. How many times has this been said, this season? Well, they could have easily been three-one down, but the crossbar came to their rescue as Bolasie weaved his way past the LFC backline for the umteenth time and rifled his effort off the woodwork, to groans of disappointment from the travelling fans after a blistering run down the flank.
A double substitution was then made by the hosts; Lucas Leiva and Rickie Lambert coming on in place of Adam Lallana and Jordon Ibe, as Brendan Rodgers was eager to make amends for a rather lacklustre second-half showing, at least for the first twenty minutes. The Reds continue to enforce pressure upon the Palace goal, but overcomplicated matters by trying to pass the ball towards the Palace net.
Martin Kelly made a superbly-executed sliding tackle to deny the run towards goal of Gerrard, as the ball tricked out of play with just five minutes left on the clock plus stoppages. Glenn Murray came off the bench, and scored a penalty-kick rebound after his initial shot was stopped following Lucas bringing down Zaha, although replays showed it was on the edge of the area, and not actually inside the box. As the full-time whistle blew, there was applause around the ground, with Palace recording a three-one victory, after an excellent second-half display indeed by Pardew's men.
Yes, it was not the result Stevie, or Liverpool were hoping for, but at the end of the day, the result was unsignificant in truth. One of the Premier League's best ever midfielders, signing off on a great career with LFC. You'll be sorely missed by us all, Stevie.
Player Ratings:
| Liverpool (1) | Crystal Palace (3) | ||
 |  |  |  |
| Mignolet | 7 | Hennessey | 6 |
| Can | 7.5 | Ward | 7 |
| Lovren | 6.5 | Dann | 7 |
| Sakho | 6.5 | Kelly | 6.5 |
| Moreno | 7 | Souaré | 7 |
| Henderson | 6 | McArthur | 7.5 |
| Gerrard | 6 | Ledley | 6.5 |
| Lallana | 7 | Lee | 6 |
| Coutinho | 7 | Puncheon | 8 |
| Ibe | 6 | Bolasie | 9 |
| Sterling | 6.5 | Chamakh | 6.5 |
| Substitutes: | |||
| Lambert | 5 | Zaha | 7.5 |
| Lucas Leiva | 5 | Mutch | 6 |
| Sinclair | - | Murray | 6.5 |