Liverpool 1-1 Crystal Palace
by James Nalton
at Anfield

PATRICK VIEIRA’S Crystal Palace executed their plan perfectly on Monday evening, taking a point from Anfield thanks to a 1-1 draw against Liverpool.

Palace were set up to make the most of Liverpool being out of sorts in front of goal and opened the scoring themselves from a swift counter-attack.

Liverpool’s high defensive line is often spoken of as a weakness, even though it rarely is. But on this occasion the fifth-choice centre-back Nat Phillips didn’t quite have the confidence to keep the defensive line alongside Virgil van Dijk.

Zaha capitalised, breaking the offside trap to sprint on to Eberechi Eze’s pass and finish coolly past Alisson.

Such fine margins make a difference, but Phillips was not the only player at fault as defensive midfielder Fabinho let Eze dance past him, offering no resistance.

It was one-way traffic for much of the first half, and indeed the game as a whole. The ball was really out of Liverpool’s possession and their goalkeeper Alisson was mostly a spectator.

Despite this, the home side only had four shots on target to Palace’s three, and Luis Diaz’s equaliser was one of the more difficult chances of the game. It was all his own work as he cut in from the left and buried a shot from outside the area.

By that time, Liverpool were a man down after Darwin Nunez marked his Anfield debut with a red card rather than a goal.

Whether Joachim Andersen’s baiting of Liverpool’s big-money summer signing was part of Vieira’s plan or just something the Dane came up with himself, it certainly worked.

After some routine centre-back roughhousery from Andersen, Nunez eventually snapped in the second half.

A first attempted head-to-the-face on Andersen failed, but moments later the Uruguayan gave the Palace centre-back reason enough to go down, WWE style, toppling over holding his face and referee Paul Tierney showed the Liverpool striker the red card.

The home side were impressive for a team playing with a man less, though Palace also had chances to win it.

“We could have won, but we could have lost it as well,” Vieira summed up after the game.

“I’m pleased with a point, but even more pleased with the quality we showed today.

“We showed some sides of the game we need to show more often. We defended really well and worked hard.

“Jordan [Ayew], Ebs [Eze] and even Wilfred —  they ran a lot today behind the ball, and I’m really happy that those players who like to have the ball at their feet didn’t show frustration today.

“They worked with the rest of the players, and that’s what we need to keep, to allow ourselves to be more competitive and try to win more football matches.”

Their next chance to win a football match will be at home to Aston Villa this weekend, while Liverpool will look to kick-start their season when they face struggling rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday.