Liverpool vs Crystal Palace LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction after Darwin Nunez red card
The Reds’ search for their first win of the season continues after the Eagles earned a point at Anfield
Darwin Nunez lost his head but fellow South American Luis Diaz ensured 10-man Liverpool did not lose their long unbeaten home record with a brilliant equaliser to secure a 1-1 Premier League draw with Crystal Palace.
Anfield is no stranger to fiery Uruguayans after witnessing the highs and lows of Luis Suarez for three-and-a-half years but the recklessness of their summer signing’s weak headbutt on Joachim Andersen beggared belief.
Frustration had been growing having gone behind to Wilfried Zaha’s 32nd-minute goal against the run of play but the way Nunez to reacted to being provoked by the Palace centre-back was naive at best and idiotic at worst.
The fact the 23-year-old’s act of self-destruction was rescued by Diaz, who beat at least five players in shimmying his way into position to unleash a 25-yard shot past Victor Guaita, four minutes after the red card, will be of no consolation.
Nunez is currently Jurgen Klopp’s only fit striker, with Diogo Jota nursing a thigh injury and Roberto Firmino missing the game as a precaution, and his resulting three-match ban - with arch-rivals Manchester United next up in a week’s time - is likely to be costly.
Klopp’s side already trail leaders Manchester City by four points and with the margin for error in the title race so tight, they cannot afford many more nights like this.
Follow all the reaction from Anfield:
Will Salah match Gerrard?
Mo Salah has scored 119 Premier League goals for Liverpool. Only Steven Gerrard (120) and Robbie Fowler (128) have scored more.
Salah has been involved in 11 goals in 10 Premier League appearances against Crystal Palace (seven goals, four assists).
Patrick Vieira lays down goalscoring challenge to Crystal Palace
Patrick Vieira has challenged Crystal Palace to break their Premier League goal-scoring record during the competition’s 30th-anniversary season.
The Eagles came close last campaign, matching their second-best haul of 50 set in the 2016/17 season, just one shy of their best Premier League tally, 51 in 2018/19.
Wilfried Zaha netted 14 of those 2021/22 goals, while Conor Gallagher, now back with Chelsea after his south London loan spell, contributed eight.
Patrick Vieira lays down goalscoring challenge to Crystal Palace
The Eagles scored 50 league goals last term
Tonight’s venue
Crystal Palace travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool tonight. Which way will this one go?
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace
This is Liverpool’s first Monday night game since a 1-1 draw at Leeds United in April 2021, with their last at Anfield coming in September 2020 when they defeated Arsenal 3-1.
They have never lost a match played on August 15th, having won five and drawn two of the seven games played on this date.
Palace enjoy Mondays
Crystal Palace were unbeaten in all five Monday Premier League fixtures last season.
They won one and drew four. How will they go this season?
Zaha’s away form
Wilfried Zaha scored in all four of Crystal Palace’s Premier League away victories last season at Manchester City, Watford, Wolves and Southampton.
Can he replicate that form this year too?
The next step Luis Diaz must take at Liverpool is clear
Jurgen Klopp’s 2022 signing from Portugal scored in the Community Shield. He struck again at Fulham last week. Darwin Nunez has made an explosive impact. So, seven months earlier, did Luis Diaz.
But if two transformative cameos have suggested that Klopp’s golden run of attacking signings has continued with the £64m striker, there is a difference between the two South Americans. It lies in the scoring stakes.
If Nunez has followed in a tradition of potent players who were quick to make their mark, with Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota scoring early goals that set the tone for their Anfield careers, other comparisons came with the January buy.
Diaz arrived from Porto, Nunez from Benfica and both showed the pace and directness that made them look immediately at home in a Klopp side.
The next step Luis Diaz must take at Liverpool is clear
Diaz may never score the volume of goals of teammates Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez but he can still add potency to his creative spark
Injury crisis?
Liverpool’s midfield options look seriously thin after Thiago Alcantara, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all missing through injury.
Nat Phillips starts at centre-back tonight after Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate are both absent.
“We have injuries, that’s how it is. It is a question of how long will the players be out,” said Klopp. “Thiago is good but the injury is not good. I read four to six weeks. I would prefer four.”
Experienced Reds
Liverpool had six players aged 30+ in their starting XI last week, the first time they had done so in a Premier League match since February 1994.
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace team changes
Jurgen Klopp makes four changes to the Liverpool team that drew with Fulham last weekend. Nat Phillips comes in to replace Joel Matip at centre-back with James Milner and Harvey Elliott brought into the midfield in place of Jordan Henderson and the injured Thiago Alcantara.
Darwin Nunez starts in place of Roberto Firmino too.
Patrick Vieira make just one change. Joel Ward comes in to replace Odsonne Edouard.
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