Liverpool draw tie trap with Palace at Anfield
Liverpool striker Luis Diaz scored a superb solo goal to disallow
Crystal Palace’s lead through Wilfried Zaha in a 1-1 Premier League
draw in a match that saw Darwin Nunez sent off in his first home appearance.
Liverpool dominated the first half, but Zaha opened the scoring and
shocked the Liverpool fans at Anfield with a superb shot following
a counterattack in the 32nd minute.
This is the sixth consecutive game in the league in which Liverpool
conceded the first goal despite possessing the ball for more than 75 percent
of the first half and launched 17 attempts on the goal, including only three
between the goal frame.
Nuwens almost equalized for Liverpool before the break, but his attempt
rebounded from the far post and Virgil van Dijk failed to follow the ball towards goal.
Things went from bad to worse in the second half when Uruguayan striker Nunez,
who recently joined Liverpool from Benfica, was given a direct red card in
the 57th minute after heading in to defender Joachim Andersen and will
now miss three matches for suspension.
The sending off inspired Luis Diaz when he equalized in the 61st minute,
as the Colombian thrust in from the left flank and past several defenders
before firing a shot beyond the reach of the visitors’ goalkeeper Vicente Guetta.
Zaha had a golden opportunity to bring Palace back to the front in
the 78th minute when he penetrated behind the defense but fired
a direct shot away from the far post after a low cross from Sheikh Omar Doukuri.
Liverpool also nearly scored the winning goal on several occasions,
but Palace held their ground to score their first point of the new season,
while the home side drew in their first two matches.
“Of course we always want to win games, especially at home,
” Liverpool midfielder James Milner told Sky Sports.
“I thought we started well but then we lost our way a little bit in the middle.
“Obviously they have quality and always give us problems and we should have defended better.”
Palace coach Patrick Vieira was happy to come out with a draw despite
the increase in numbers in the last half hour.
“Overall, we have maintained our discipline, the matches in this stadium
are difficult,” he said. “The team performed well and I am very happy with our style today.”
Liverpool draw tie trap with Palace at Anfield
