When Liverpool took on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last month, the reigning Premier League champions had won every game across all competitions this season.

Yet their luck turned in south London, with Eddie Nketiah netting a last-gasp winner for Palace.

Since then, Liverpool have lost another three Premier League matches, with their latest defeat coming against Brentford on Saturday.

Arne Slot claimed the 3-2 reverse at the Gtech Community Stadium marked a new low point for his team, who are now seven points off leaders Arsenal.

But Palace have also struggled in the intervening month, and are now winless in three straight league matches, losing to Everton and Arsenal either side of drawing against Bournemouth.

So for both of these teams, the EFL Cup presents a chance to get back on track, as they go head-to-head at Anfield for a place in the quarter-finals.

Using Opta data, we delve into the key statistics and storylines ahead of Wednesday's contest.

What's expected?

These teams have already met twice this season, with Palace not only winning in the league, but also triumphing on penalties at Wembley in the Community Shield.

Indeed, Liverpool have only won two of their eight games against Palace in all competitions since the start of 2022-23 (four draws, two defeats), and only one of five since Oliver Glasner joined the Eagles in February 2024 (three draws including a penalty shoot-out defeat, one loss).

Liverpool's two wins against Palace since the start of 2022-23 are their joint-fewest against any team they have faced four or more times in that period, also winning twice against Manchester United and Arsenal.

At Anfield, meanwhile, Liverpool are winless in their last three games against Palace, drawing two and losing one.

They last went four home matches without victory against a team from outside of the 'Big Six' between 2012 and 2014, against Aston Villa (two draws, two defeats).

This will be the fifth EFL Cup meeting between Palace and Liverpool, with each side progressing from two of the previous four – the most recent came in the 2005-06 third round, with the then-Championship Eagles winning 2-1 at Selhurst Park.

But what outcome is the Opta supercomputer predicting?

Liverpool are made the favourites, with a 56.4% win probability. 

Palace's win likelihood stands at 21%, while there is a 22.6% chance of the game finishing level and going to penalties.

Slot's shot at redemption?

As it turned out, Liverpool's 5-1 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League was only a brief moment of respite, as the Reds fell to a fourth successive Premier League defeat on Saturday to leave their title defence already hanging by a thread.

Slot's team failed to defend a series of huge throw-ins from Michael Kayode in the first half, before Virgil van Dijk's foul on Dango Ouattara allowed Igor Thiago to score what proved to be the winner in the second half.

Liverpool have now lost as many Premier League games this season (four) as they did last campaign, and the Opta supercomputer now rates their title chances at just 11.4%, compared to 66.4% for Arsenal and 14.4% for Manchester City.

The Reds may already be looking for alternative routes to silverware this term, and the EFL Cup presents that chance.

Liverpool have progressed from 12 of their last 14 EFL Cup ties against Premier League opponents, with the exceptions coming against Manchester City in the 2022-23 fourth round and versus Newcastle United at the same stage last term.

Including Wednesday's game, 10 of the Reds' last 11 ties in the EFL Cup have been against a fellow top-flight side, so it is not as though Liverpool have it easy in this competition.

If Liverpool are to get back on course, then they need to improve defensively.

They have shipped 14 league goals, which is 11 more than would-be title rivals Arsenal (three) and seven more than Man City (seven), while they have already faced 100 shots in the top tier, for an overall expected goals against (xGA) figure of 12.

Palace out for more cup glory

Palace, who lost 1-0 to Arsenal and their former midfielder Eberechi Eze on Sunday, tasted glory in the FA Cup last year and will have high hopes of another run to Wembley.

The Eagles have been eliminated from six of their last eight fourth-round ties in the EFL Cup, though they did beat Aston Villa 2-1 at this stage last season.

Palace have only made the quarter-final stage in back-to-back campaigns once, in 1991-92 and 1992-93.

They are also looking to get back on track after enduring something of a wobble. Indeed, Sunday's defeat at the Emirates Stadium made it four games without a victory for Glasner's men, in all competitions (one draw, three defeats).

Since opening their Conference League group-phase campaign with a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv at the start of October, Palace have also lost 2-1 at Everton, drawn 3-3 with Bournemouth and gone down 1-0 at home to Cypriot side AEK Larnaca.

That downturn has followed hot on the heels of a club-record 19-game unbeaten run in all competitions, which started in April and included their FA Cup win and two triumphs over Liverpool.

Jean-Philippe Mateta was successfully kept quiet by Arsenal, having scored a hat-trick against Bournemouth in Palace's prior league game. The Frenchman will look to bounce back against Liverpool, with only Erling Haaland (11), Thiago and Antoine Semenyo (six each) bettering his five Premier League goals this season.

Those efforts have come from an expected goals (xG) total of 7.89, however, meaning he has the worst xG underperformance of any Premier League player this term, scoring 2.89 goals fewer than expected, based on the quality of his chances.  

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Liverpool – Alexander Isak

Slot will hope to have Isak back after a groin injury caused him to sit out the defeat at Brentford, while there are also question marks over the availability of Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch. Alisson, Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni are all sidelined.

Isak has scored in four of his last six EFL Cup games, the most different games a player has scored in since the start of last season's competition. That run started with a fourth-round goal against Chelsea in 2024-25.

However, the former Newcastle United star has yet to score in the league for Liverpool, and his performances have come in for some criticism.

Crystal Palace – Ismaila Sarr 

Sarr has plenty of form for troubling Liverpool, scoring five goals in eight games against the Reds in all competitions – only against Villa (eight) has he scored more.

Since the start of last season, only Mateta (28) and Eze (26), who has since departed, have registered more goal involvements in all competitions for Palace than Sarr (24 - 16 goals, eight assists).

Sarr has also created 53 chances in that time, which among current Palace players, trails only wing-backs Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz.