Liverpool Beaten 2-1 by Crystal Palace in First Premier League Loss of Season

Liverpool suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling 2-1 to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Substitute Eddie Nketiah struck in stoppage time to seal victory for the hosts, adding to Ismaila Sarr’s early opener. Federico Chiesa had levelled for the Reds late on, but it was not enough to prevent Arne Slot’s side from slipping to their first league loss of the campaign.

Line-ups and Team News

Slot made two changes from last weekend’s Merseyside derby win over Everton, handing starts to Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Van Dijk, Konaté (Frimpong 74), Kerkez; Wirtz (Chiesa 74), Szoboszlai, Isak (Ngumoha 84), Mac Allister (Jones 65), Salah, Bradley (Gakpo 46), Gravenberch.
Unused subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Endo, Robertson.

First Half: Palace Strike Early

Palace opened the scoring with their first attack in the ninth minute. A corner from Daichi Kamada was only half-cleared by Ryan Gravenberch, allowing Sarr to finish from close range.

Liverpool responded with Ryan Gravenberch forcing Dean Henderson into a fine stop, while Alisson kept the visitors in the game with key saves from Yeremy Pino and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Palace came close to doubling their advantage before the break as Mateta struck the post with a curling effort and then volleyed over in added time.

Second Half: Drama at Both Ends

Liverpool pushed after the interval, with Cody Gakpo and Wirtz going close before Henderson denied the latter with a sharp save. Isak also spurned two opportunities as the Reds searched for an equaliser.

Chiesa was introduced from the bench and nearly scored with a curling effort before finally finding the net in the 87th minute, reacting first to a deflected cross and calmly slotting home to make it 1-1.

But just as Liverpool looked set to salvage a point, Palace struck in stoppage time. A long throw was flicked into the box, where Nketiah pounced to drive in the winner and send the home fans into raptures.

What’s Next

The defeat ends Liverpool’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season. Slot’s side will now look to respond when they return to Anfield for their next fixture.