Crystal Palace 2-1 Liverpool: Nketiah bags late winner to end Reds unbeaten start

Eddie Nketiah came off the bench to grab a memorable late winner for Crystal Palace against Premier League champions Liverpool at Selhurst Park.

Nketiah’s stoppage time heroics, coming after Liverpool substitute Federico Chiesa scored what looked to be a late equaliser, extended Palace’s unbeaten run to 18 games and spark jubilant scenes in South London.

Ismaila Sarr had given Oliver Glasner’s side a deserved first-half lead, with the Reds’ defending leaving a lot to be desired, as goalkeeper Alisson produced a string of wonderful saves to keep Arne Slot’s men in the contest.

In the end, Palace’s numerous squandered chances had little bearing on the result, as they ended Liverpool’s perfect start to the season in dramatic fashion to move up to second in the table.

Crystal Palace v Liverpool

Palace made their intentions clear from the off. A corner inside the opening 10 minutes saw Ryan Gravenberch divert the ball into his own six yard box amid a tussle with Marc Guehi, with Sarr on hand to give the hosts the early lead.

It should have perhaps been two just moments later, Alisson making the first of several miraculous saves when he denied Yeremy Pino when the Spaniard looked destined to score.

A medical emergency in the crowd brought a six-minute halt to proceedings and, following the restart, it was the turn of Dean Henderson to show his shot stopping credentials; the Palace keeper showing great reactions to tip Gravenberch’s goal-bound effort onto the post.

Alisson then added to his showreel with two more impressive stops before Jean-Philippe Mateta rattled the frame of the goal with a sumptuous long-range strike.

Liverpool’s defence looked all at sea but the title holders increased the urgency after the break, with Florian Wirtz wasting a good opportunity to pull his side level.

With 10 minutes remaining, substitute Eddie Nketiah spurned a superb chance to seal the game for the hosts.

Then, just five minutes later, Liverpool’s substitute Chiesa carved out an equaliser to seemingly salvage a point for Slot’s team and break the hearts of Palace fans.

However, there was to be one final twist in the tale as in the 97th minute Nketiah found the net after a long throw to give the Reds a taste of their late-goal medicine.