EPL: Crystal Palace ends Liverpool title chase
League suffered a huge blow as they
relinquished a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 at
Crystal Palace.
With title rivals Manchester City winning at
Everton on Saturday, the pressure was on
Brendan Rodgers and his side as they
travelled to Selhurst Park needing all three
points to maintain any realistic chance of
ending their 24-year wait for a league crown.
Everything seemed to be in order as the
visitors charged into a three-goal lead
befitting of their domination of the game,
before the Eagles mounted a spirited
comeback to score three in nine minutes and
seal a memorable draw.
City had strolled to victory in south London
eight days ago but Palace did not roll over as
easily against Liverpool, who now hold just a
one-point advantage at the top of the table
with City's game in hand coming at home to
Aston Villa on Wednesday.
Joe Allen's first Liverpool goal was enough to
give the Reds a half-time lead, with fit-again
Daniel Sturridge and double player of the year
Luis Suarez scoring in two early second-half
minutes.
But with the backing of a ferocious home
crowd, Palace clawed their way back into the
game with a deflected effort from Damien
Delaney and a brace from substitute Dwight
Gayle which left Steve Gerrard haunched over
in anguish and Suarez in tears at the full-time
whistle.
It was a lively opening from Palace, roared on
by a home crowd celebrating their top-flight
survival, but the visitors soon took control of
possession, slowly quietening those
supporters looking to enjoy a final home game
of the season.
Glen Johnson felt he should have been
awarded an early penalty after a wild swing at
the ball from Yannick Bolasie saw the Palace
winger catch him on the thigh before
Mamadou Sakho wasted a free header.
Johnson was the next to come close as he
beat the offside trap to latch onto Allen's long
ball into the Palace box, but the full-back
could only guide a header over Julian
Speroni's crossbar.
With Liverpool in the ascendancy, the opening
goal came on 18 minutes, when Allen found
himself in space to head home a corner and
put the visitors ahead on his 50th league
appearance for the club.
Jason Puncheon forced Simon Mignolet into
his first save of the evening shortly afterwards
as his low drive nicked off Sakho before Mile
Jedinak tested the Belgium international with
a long-range shot arrowed towards the top
corner.
Palace keeper Julian Speroni tipped a bending
Sturridge effort onto the post, with Suarez
smashing the follow-up high and wide with a
rare lack of composure before Liverpool added
their second.
Gerrard, looking to put his vital slip in the
defeat to Chelsea behind him, picked out
Sturridge with a sumptuous pass and his
England colleague controlled the ball before
his deflected shot found its way into the
bottom corner.
Just two minutes later, Suarez was on the end
of another free-flowing attack, poking home
past Speroni after being found by Raheem
Sterling.
Palace pulled a goal back with a little over 10
minutes to go as Delaney let fly with a
speculative long-range effort which beat
Mignolet courtesy of a deflection off Johnson.
That goal seemed to unnerve the visitors, who
conceded again when Yannick Bolasie burst
through and calmly picked a pass for Gayle
turn the ball home to bring Palace right back
into the game.
A memorable comeback was completed in the
88th minute as fellow substitute Glenn Murray
chested the ball into the path of Gayle, who
showed great composure to slide a shot under
Mignolet to level proceedings.
Liverpool pushed forward in the five minutes of
additional time but could not find a winning
goal and will now be relying on favours from
both Villa on Wednesday night and West Ham
on Sunday if they are to win a 19th league
title.
Comments
Post a Comment