This video can not be played Isak and Wirtz on scoresheet as Liverpool beat Palace The clock in the corner of the ground was showing 3.35pm, and The Kop was in raptures as Liverpool's number nine was mobbed by his team-mates.

Some 236 days after joining the club, Alexander Isak's long wait for his first home Premier League goal for Liverpool was finally over. Isak set his side on the way to a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace with a shot into the ground that looped over goalkeeper Dean Henderson and into the net.

For the first time in a long time, the man who cost a British record £125m was smiling again on a day of firsts for Isak and Liverpool. This was the Swede's first goal of 2026, and the first time the Reds have won a home league game he started.

"Did anyone ever think we would say this, eight or nine months ago, that at the end of April, Alexander Isak scored his first Liverpool league goal at Anfield?" asked manager Arne Slot after the game. "That sums up this season a lot - that an unbelievable striker has had such a long time with injuries. It's really nice that he has scored because when we signed him we knew he could score goals."

But will this goal mark a turning point for the player whose first season at Anfield has been overshadowed by injuries and a loss of form?

Isak scores as Liverpool beat Palace to boost CL hopes 'Wait and see' - has Salah played last Liverpool game? On the corresponding weekend last season, Isak scored for Newcastle United in a win that relegated Ipswich Town. It was his 26th goal of a successful season that would help propel Eddie Howe's side into the Champions League. He ended the campaign with 27, and a little over three months later joined Liverpool.

"I want to create history," said Isak, after an acrimonious move before which he had trained away from Newcastle's first-team squad. "I want to win trophies. This is the perfect place for me to grow even further and take my game to the next level."

Yet that dream move has turned into something of a nightmare for both player and club. Isak suffered a serious ankle injury in December that included a fractured fibula. Prior to that he had been starting in place of Hugo Ekitike, who many fans thought deserved to be selected. There were suggestions Liverpool were struggling to fit Isak into their system.

Four months later, he is still a shadow of the player he was last season and has still to complete a full 90 minutes in a Liverpool shirt. Against Palace he had 18 touches and registered one attempt, from which he scored, before being replaced by Ryan Gravenberch in the 79th minute. He has now played 1,009 minutes for Liverpool - well down on the 3,319 he managed for Newcastle last season.

But Martin Keown, a pundit on Saturday's Match of the Day, believes there could be brighter days ahead for Isak. "It's been a long time coming for someone who cost a British record transfer fee," said three-time Premier League winner Keown. "But that feeling of celebrating with the home fans is something for him to build on. Isak showed us a little bit of what we thought we'd see from the start of the season. If Liverpool can get him fully fit and back to the form he showed at Newcastle, then clearly he's an outstanding player - and someone the club will still have big expectations for."

"With Mohamed Salah leaving in the summer and Hugo Ekitike likely to miss the rest of the calendar year, the Reds are going to need him back to his best."

This video can not be played Liverpool not a team that 'pretends' to be injured - Slot Isak, who signed a six-year contract with Liverpool, is likely to play for Sweden at the World Cup this summer. And some fans believe that could help him return to his best form before his second season with the Reds.

"It hasn't gone so well for him so far," said Mattias Astrom, who travelled to Liverpool from Sweden for the Palace game. "He needs confidence and he has to score. That's why Liverpool bought him - to score goals. Maybe he can start fresh next season."

Compatriot Fredde Andersson added: "I was excited when Liverpool signed Isak. But he's not the player he was at Newcastle last season. Now Hugo Ekitike is injured, maybe he will get more minutes."

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