Liverpool lose more ground in draw with Palace

Liverpool fought back with 10 men to prevent a first Premier League defeat in front of fans at Anfield since 2017 as Darwin Nunez was sent off during a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on Monday.

Luis Diaz’s sensational strike salvaged a point for the Reds after Wilfried Zaha opened the scoring for Palace. Just two games into the season, Liverpool trail leaders Manchester City by four points.

Nunez had scored in his first two appearances against City in the Community Shield and in rescuing a point as a substitute in a 2-2 draw away at Fulham last weekend. But the Uruguayan’s headbutt on Joachim Andersen just before the hour mark left his side with an uphill challenge in the match and increasing ground to make up already in the title race.

“He knows that now himself,” said Jurgen Klopp when asked if Nunez had let his teammates down. “Of course it was a red card. He was provoked but that is not how he should behave.”

Nat Phillips was forced to make his first Premier League appearance since the final day of the 2020/21 season at centre-back, while Klopp had no options to refresh his attack late in the game.

Liverpool came flying out the traps, but failed to turn their early dominance into goals and Palace had barely been in the opposition’s half for the first half-hour, but Patrick Vieira’s gameplan worked to perfection for the opening goal.

Eberechi Eze wriggled free from the Liverpool press to play the perfect ball in behind for Zaha to break the offside trap and curl beyond Alisson Becker into the far corner.