SELHURST PARK welcomes Liverpool as the Reds face Crystal Palace.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the game. E-mail ben@thescore.ie, tweet @thescore_ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.
You may need to refresh the page for YouTube videos and other elements to display correctly.
Crystal Palace 3-3 Liverpool
Good evening folks. The final Monday night of Premier League football sees Liverpool take on Crystal Palace with hopes of winning the title still alive.
Manchester City recorded a narrow 3-2 win over Everton on Saturday evening to regain the top spot in the table with just fixtures with Aston Villa and West Ham left.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side are level on points with the Reds but lead on goal difference as they are nine goals better off.
Coincidently, the last time Liverpool defeated Palace 9-0 they went on to win the league back in 1989…
Here are the teams:
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Mariappa, Dann, Delaney, Ward, Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Ledley, Bolasie, Puncheon, Chamakh.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Flanagan, Skrtel, Sakho, Gerrard, Allen, Lucas, Sterling, Sturridge, Suarez.
Cameron Jerome is replaced by Kagisho Dikgacoi for the home side while Liverpool bring in Daniel Sturridge for Coutinho.
Let’s do a quick poll. Who do you think will win the league?
Poll Results:
Good news, it looks like Suarez is fine.
There’s a super atmosphere at for Palace’s last games of the season Selhurst Park tonight, with the the home fans belting this classic out as the players emerge:
Sturridge gets an early touch in the opposing box but he checks back inside and is dispossessed.
Suarez unsurprisingly busy in the opening minutes. First he attempts to carve an opening before losing out, then Glen Johnson’s diagonal pass reaches the Uruguay but he miscontrols. It won’t matter as he is offside anyway.
Johnson then goes down in the box after a wild swing of the leg from Yannick Bolasie. Referee Mark Clattenburg points to a corner and when the ball is whipped in Mohamed Sakho gets the head all wrong — sending it into the ground and wide.
A decent tifo effort from Palace fans:
Johnson is getting some joy from right full-back and has just missed a really good opportunity. Allen clips a ball from deep into the English defender’s path but he heads over the bar from 15 yards.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool (Joe Allen)
Sturridge’s shot is deflected out for a corner and Allen is left all alone at the back post to head home.
The Welshman doesn’t find the target very often.
Here’s the goal. Terrible defending from Joe Ledley, who loses his international team-mate.
Suarez steps up to take a free-kick from a long way out but bends it wide of Speroni’s far post.
Jason Puncheon forces Simon Mignolet into a good stop with a low drive.
Moments later, Jedinak sends a well-hit effort goalward and Mignolet has to tip it over. Better from Palace.
Sterling skips inside Damien Delaney and lays off to Suarez. He snatches at the shot and puts it into the stand. The striker, who was voted PFA and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year, has looked off the boil in recent games.
Referee Mark Clattenburg is giving Martin Skrtel a talking to after the defender comes through the back of Chamakh and concedes a free-kick.
Half-time: Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool
The second half has just begun.
Suarez plays in Sturridge and continues his run. Sturridge backheels into his striker partner’s path but Scott Dann appears to obstruct Suarez. No penalty given.
That has to go down as a bad miss. Speroni tips Sturridge’s shot onto the post and Suarez follows up but can only blaze his strike off-target.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-2 Liverpool (Daniel Sturridge)
Gerrard finds Sturridge with a ball over the top and the striker drives inside then lets fly. The shot takes a deflection and and leaves Speroni left stranded.
The Liverpool players grab the ball out of the net. They’re looking to improve their goal difference now.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-3 Liverpool (Luis Suarez)
They’ve got another! Suarez gets a bit of luck after an attempted dummy then exchanges a one-two with Sterling and side-foots in a third for the visitors.
Goals two and three:
Skrtel has deservedly picked himself up a yellow card after yet another foul.
Johnson drives a shot at goal with his left foot and Speroni palms over. Scott Dann has been booked for a rash challenge on Suarez while Dwight Gayle is on in place of Puncheon.
Bolasie plays a criminal pass backwards which is seized upon by Sturridge. He cuts the ball back to Sterling whose shot is block.
Down the other end, Glenn Murray, only on the field, wasted an attack by shooting wide.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-3 Liverpool (Damien Delaney)
Johnson stands off Delaney, allowing him to shoot from 25 yards out. The Irish internatinal’s effort takes a deflection off Johnson and flies in.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 2-3 Liverpool (Dwight Gayle)
Oh my days. Palace break through the sheer pace of Bolasie, who runs the length of the pitch and picks out substitute Gayle. He takes it first time to beat Mignolet and make the last ten minutes very interesting indeed.
Bolasie is having a field day out there at the moment and has caused Liverpool all sorts of problems.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 3-3 Liverpool (Dwight Gayle)
WOW… Just wow. Gayle is picked out by a chest lay-off in a central position and slides a shot past Mignolet to draw Palace level. Incredible scenes.
What a big goal this could turn out to be in the title race.
Liverpool win a corner in injury time and this looks to be it. The ball gets cleared but is sent back into the danger area where former Palace player fails to make decent contact.
Full-time: Crystal Palace 3-3 Liverpool
This picture says it all…
Brendan Rodgers speaking to Sky Sports: “As you would imagine it’s very quiet (in the dressing room). The important thing tonight was to win the game.
“I’m very disappointed with how we conceded the three goals. It was really poor defending.
“It was a killer blow to only get a point after playing so well. You’ve got to make better decisions in the game and ultimately that was what cost us.
“We needed to win tonight and I think Manchester City will go on and win their two games and be champions.”
