Woodman was pressed into service after Giorgi Mamardashvili was injured in the Merseyside derby the previous weekend, with Alisson Becker already absent. His five saves equalled the joint-most by any Liverpool goalkeeper on their Premier League debut since records began, matching the mark set by Simon Mignolet against Stoke City in August 2013.
The pivotal moment came in the 40th minute with Liverpool leading 1-0. Jean-Philippe Matéta met a Palace corner with a header from inside the penalty area and Woodman threw himself to his right to turn it away. Robertson raced upfield and scored at the other end. Ten seconds separated a potential equaliser from a 2-0 lead.
Robertson reflected on the moment after the game.
"I was actually going to run to him but then I thought, 'It's far too far away!' So I thought I'd just let him get the cheer off the Kop. It's an unbelievable save — I thought he was outstanding today. We never doubted him."
"People maybe looked at it before the game, our third-choice goalkeeper, maybe a bit inexperienced in the Premier League and things, but we had full confidence in him. When he needed to make saves, he made saves and when he needed to be good on the ball, he was good on the ball. I don't know what happened to me — I turned into a striker for about five seconds! But yeah, it all started with him."
Woodman also denied Maxence Lacroix from a goal-bound header at the start of first-half stoppage time, tipping the effort onto the post as the Kop broke into chants of "England's number one." Alisson Becker, watching from the stands, was seen fist-pumping and applauding.
Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner was generous in defeat.
"The Liverpool goalkeeper had the day of his life — so congratulations to him. We were 2-0 down at half-time and you could say we rest our power for the Conference League semi-final and maybe lose 4-0 — but we didn't. This performance will give us a lot of confidence for the rest of the season."
Arne Slot acknowledged how fine the margins were.
"I think the moment of the game was the lead-up to our 2-0 where Freddie made a big save. Otherwise it would have been 1-1. And 10 seconds later it's 2-0. These are the current margins in the Premier League — today they were on our side."
Woodman was visibly emotional when speaking after the final whistle.
"Yeah, it was an unbelievable moment for me. Coming to this club, I never thought I'd be able to play at Anfield in a Premier League game. That moment when Robbo scored was unbelievable for me. Since I came to the club, this man has helped me settle massively and seeing that ball hit the back of the net was brilliant, so I'm buzzing all round."
Daniel Muñoz pulled one back controversially when Woodman was down injured, drawing fury from Anfield. Florian Wirtz then settled the contest with a late third. Liverpool move above Aston Villa into fourth with four games remaining.