Liverpool news: Alan Pardew and James McArthur lavish praise on Jürgen Klopp's title contenders after beating Palace

Crystal Palace became the latest side to endorse Liverpool's title credentials after a harum-scarum throwback of a match on Saturday. Jürgen Klopp's heavy metal band eventually reduced the home side from 'Glad All Over' to 'Bits And Pieces', but Palace's Dave Clark Five anthem still rang out twice in celebration of equalising headed goals by the workaholic midfielder James McArthur before the home defence went missing twice too often.

Throwback or not, if Liverpool are finally to secure that first Premier League success, it will not be in the Seventies style with which they once became champions by conceding 16 goals in 42 games. Thirteen have already gone past them in the first quarter of the campaign, but as joint top scorers they have shown more than enough ability to keep up with Manchester City and Arsenal, both of whom they matched this weekend by knocking in four away from home.

Two came from headers at corners by Dejan Lovren, still not quite compensating for allowing McArthur his double, and the more reliable Joel Matip. The others, by Emre Can and Roberto Firmino, were the result of flexibility and movement that Palace's players and manager could only admire.

“It’s very difficult to play against them,” Alan Pardew said. “The speed, the runners, they’re coming from every angle. They’ve got some fantastic players.

“Firmino plays that striker’s role really clever, you don’t really know where he is and it’s unnatural for centre halves. He pulls you around, pops up in midfield, then when he’s in midfield, someone else replaces him. It’s like a piston in an engine working there.”

“They’re a very good side,” echoed McArthur. “I’d say that’s the best side we’ve played this year as a team performance. The front six, the way they press the ball and rotate, they are a really strong contender this year in my opinion.”

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Klopp, more used to two-horse (at most) Bundesliga race, was naturally enough talking down the possibility of following his triumphs against the odds for Borussia Dortmund with an English championship.

“I’ve no idea, it’s my first proper season in the Premier League. I have no idea what to do to win the Premier League. I’m pretty sure it was never decided at the end of October.

“We feel good in the moment, that’s all. Points are good, performances are not always okay. Now we have one week until Watford.”

That notion of Klopp the naive stranger in a strange land will not wash for much longer. Nor will his insistence that a full week's preparation for Watford's visit next Sunday is no more useful than the Champions League ties that City, Arsenal and Tottenham face.

“Sometimes it is an advantage,” he reluctantly conceded, “but in the end, why does a team win the league with all these intense games in midweek? Because they have quality, they can rotate, they can rest.”

The same applies to this new Liverpool, and if they can add some clean sheets without compromising attacking threat, the more established challengers had best watch out.

Palace, meanwhile, must wait to see whether the Football Association decide that midfielder Yohan Cabaye was guilty of a stamp on man of the match Coutinho that was missed by the referee.