Liverpool 1-1 Crystal Palace - Match Report

Liverpool’s quests to hunt Manchester City for the Premier League title was dealt another blow as they dropped points for the second week running, this time to Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace at Anfield, with Luis Diaz’s second half wonderstrike cancelling out a first-half Wilfred Zaha strike to deny the Londoners the win.

Liverpool started the brighter of the two and had plenty of opportunities to take the lead. James Milner found himself in a golden chance early on, but he couldn’t divert his shot goalwards, with his effort squirming wide. 

Mohamed Salah’s first sight of goal came early on when Trent Alexander-Arnold’s fizzing pass was met by Salah, who could only guide his effort wide. 

Nuñez came alive minutes later. Firstly, Harvey Elliot’s strike was halted by a Palace defender, before Fabinho worked it out to Alexander-Arnold, who’s teasing cross was won by Nuñez in the area, but his effort was misjudged by the new Liverpool signing, slicing at the cross and mis-kicking the ball completely. 

Plenty of opportunities were missed by the ‘Reds’, which allowed Crystal Palace to have two of their own. Firstly, Wilfried Zaha broke clear off the Liverpool backline, leaving the Palace frontman to deal with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Allison, with Allison being able to deny Zaha’s low drive. Minutes later, Zaha found himself in a similar position, latching onto Eberichi Eze’s through ball to slot past Allison to give the visitors the lead against the run of play. 

Liverpool reawakened after the Palace goal to reestabish their foothold on the contest. Harvey Elliot coming closest for the ‘Reds’ on the stroke of the break, his rigid strike forcing Guaita into a save. 

With the last kick off the first period, Nuñez almost making Anfield explode into life. After a corner was only half-cleared by Palace, Nuñez reacted quickest to a ball looped back into the area with his strike pounding off the post, with Virgil Van Dijk unable to be productive with the rebound. 

HT: Liverpool 0-1 Crystal Palace

Liverpool’s task to recover from a goal down became a lot more challenging after Darwin Nuñez was shown a straight red after a tussle with Joachim Andersen, with the Liverpool forward appearing to headbutt the Crystal Palace man, leaving the ‘Reds’ a man and a goal down with half an hour to play. 

From the sending off, it breathed new life into Liverpool and the response that the ‘Reds’ were looking for came from Luis Diaz, who took the game by the scruff of the neck to level for the hosts. Diaz’s menacing run from the left had the Palace defenders in knots, with the Colombian brushing aside several Crystal Palace players to get away his shot, with the fierce effort curling into the bottom corner. 

Palace were whiskers away from reclaiming their lead. Chiek Doucoure’s drilled pass flashing across the face was met by goalscorer Zaha, peeling in from the back post, with his effort clipping the outside of the post. 

Liverpool had two golden chances to clinch the lead. Mohamed Salah, twisting on the volley was unable to guide his effort on target, with the chance tickling the woodwork. Substitute Fabio Carvalho was next to try his luck in injury time, his volley sailing inches wide. 

FT: Liverpool 1-1 Crystal Palace