It was only when James Milner was preparing to take the penalty that gave Liverpool the lead, at the end of a frenetic first-half, that it finally felt safe to take the eyes off Naby Keita.

For the previous 44 minutes, Keita had hurtled around Selhurst Park, part-brilliant and part-infuriating, with such relentless energy that it looked like someone had cut his brakes. There were turns, there were twists, there were defence-splitting passes and there were inexplicable mistakes.

It was wide-eyed and breathless, and it was as if Keita had taken it upon himself to provide a one-man embodiment of everything we have come to expect from Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side over the last few years. Forever thrilling, forever erratic.

On the evidence of this, and a similarly all-action performance against West Ham United last weekend, it is no wonder Keita has slipped into the first team so seamlessly since his £52.75m move from RB Leipzig. It is telling that the 23-year-old is already leaving his mark on this side, while Fabinho — another highly-expensive midfield recruit — was not even included on the bench here.

“He plays a similar position that he was in at Leipzig,” Klopp said last week as an explanation for Keita’s early inclusion in the midfield. A more simple reason might be that he is simply too exciting for the Liverpool manager, who so adores his “heavy metal football”, to resist.