Neil Mellor says he spotted something about Curtis Jones’ attitude during Liverpool against Crystal Palace

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Liverpool are in pole position in the Premier League after another hard-fought victory under Arne Slot.

Slot has proven Kris Boyd wrong at Liverpool, with the Anfield boss enjoying a superb start to life in England.

Liverpool are a point ahead of both Man City and Arsenal after seven matches, with six wins and one defeat.

The latest victory came in a Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace, with Diogo Jota netting for the visitors in the 1-0 win at Selhurst Park.

Virgil van Dijk impressed against Crystal Palace, but it was another fantastic team effort from the Reds on the road.

Neil Mellor makes Curtis Jones claim as Liverpool beat Crystal Palace

Slot took the smart decision to rotate his XI for the match, with the likes of Kostas Tsimikas and Curtis Jones handed rare starts.

And the latter really caught the eye of former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor, who said on LFCTV when analysing Jones’ highlights: “I think he’s been looking sharp coming off the bench in recent games, and again showed that, looking to be involved in and around the Palace penalty area.

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“In tight areas he’s getting marked, but he’s comfortable in possession of the ball, he’ll look after it. Looking after the ball really well.

“Nice little sharp turn, now he’s linking, edge of the box, what can we make happen? Halfway line, little bit of link-up with Diogo Jota, nice and strong, gets the ball out to [Mohamed] Salah.

“Here again he’s an option isn’t he for Cody Gakpo, thinks ‘why not?’ And probably the best until last, this is late on in the game, he’s put in a big shift, look at the reaction, he is not giving that up one bit, and he ends up winning a throw, that is really deep in the game, really good attitude.”

What role does Arne Slot have in mind for Curtis Jones?

Jones was in the thick of the action at Selhurst Park, and he certainly impressed in various areas before his late withdrawal.

Slot decided to replace the academy graduate with Wataru Endo with a few minutes remaining, with Jones having put in a superb shift in midfield.

He has had to be patient for chances under the Dutchman so far, with Slot having heavily relied upon Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai.

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They are undoubtedly the preferred midfield duo behind Alexis Mac Allister, and that situation doesn’t look like changing.

But it’s clear that Slot is eager to keep his players as fresh as possible, meaning Jones has a huge role to play this season.