Beth LindopSep 27, 2025, 02:20 PM ETCloseBased in Liverpool, Beth Lindop is ESPN’s Liverpool correspondent and also covers the WSL and UWCL.Follow on X
LONDON — What goes around, comes around. Having become the masters of scoring late in the Premier League this season, Liverpool saw their familiar script flipped on Saturday afternoon when they suffered a last-gasp 2-1 victory at the hands of an ascendent Crystal Palace.
The victory moves Palace up to second in the Premier League table and extends their unbeaten run to 18 games in all competitions. However, perhaps the biggest victory for the South London club came last month in the boardroom, when chairman Steve Parish put the brakes on captain Marc Guéhi’s deadline day transfer to Anfield.
This was an afternoon when the England defender’s importance to Palace — and Liverpool’s defensive frailties — were laid bare. In fact, the hosts’ dominance in the first half was such that Slot and his players may well have shook hands on a narrow defeat at the break.
In a week when an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury to 18-year-old centre-back Giovanni Leoni put Liverpool’s defensive options in the spotlight, Guehi’s quiet brilliance offered the champions a painful reminder of what could have been. At the other end of the pitch, too, Liverpool toiled despite the abundance of attacking talent on the pitch.
In the first half, British-record signing Alexander Isak completed just one of his four passes and while his influence grew significantly after the break, he was substituted off the pitch to cries of “What a waste of money!” by the Palace supporters. Fellow summer arrival Florian Wirtz also took time to impose himself on the game, while Mohamed Salah’s biggest contribution of the afternoon arguably game when he deflected Dominik Szoboszlai’s goal-bound shot wide of the net.
Instead, it fell to substitute Chiesa to restore parity for Liverpool, finishing smartly past Dean Henderson from close range to set his team on course for another late escape. Had Slot’s side managed to see the game through, Chiesa’s strike would have constituted their fifth result-changing goal in the final 10 minutes this season; no other Premier League team has more than two.
That it was Guehi who assisted Palace’s winner, flicking on Lerma’s throw, will only serve to rub further salt in the wound for Liverpool, who would be wise to test the waters with another offer for the defender in January if they hope to compete on all fronts this term.
“I expect it from Marc,” Palace boss Oliver Glasner said of his captain’s display. “It’s exactly what I knew Marc would show because he shows everything. He shows every training how good he is and what a fantastic person he is. That is even more important than how good he is as a player.
“He’s so focused on his game. He’s so focused on our game again and he just showed that again today.”
Only time will tell if that prophecy is fulfilled but they have, at least, made Liverpool’s quest to retain their Premier League crown significantly more difficult.
Steve Nicol explains the problems Arne Slot’s Liverpool are facing, as their unbeaten start to the season ends vs. Crystal Palace. (1:10)
CloseBased in Liverpool, Beth Lindop is ESPN’s Liverpool correspondent and also covers the WSL and UWCL.Follow on X
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For Liverpool, this is not a fatal blow by any means, but it’s one they must learn from quickly if they are to avoid conceding momentum in the title race to rivals Arsenal, who visit Newcastle on Sunday. Last season, after suffering a similarly dispiriting defeat to Nottingham Forest in September, Slot’s side went 26 league games unbeaten and romped to the title; the Liverpool boss will back his team to offer a similarly resounding response this term.
Sarr — who now has five goals in eight career games against Liverpool — put Palace ahead after nine minutes after the visitors failed to deal with an early corner, before both Yeremy Pino and Daniel Muñoz forced Alisson Becker into fine saves to keep the game in the balance. The Liverpool supporters in the away end at Selhurst Park could perhaps be forgiven for casting admiring glances at the impressive Guehi, who barely put a foot wrong while Ibrahima Konaté struggled to handle the threat of the ever-lively Jean Philippe-Mateta.
play1:14Nicol critiques Konate’s ‘horrendous’ first-halfSteve Nicol talks about Ibrahima Konate’s struggles with Liverpool during the first-half of the game vs. Crystal Palace.
Why Arne Slot still has questions to answer about his Liverpool team (1:10)Steve Nicol explains the problems Arne Slot’s Liverpool are facing, as their unbeaten start to the season ends vs. Crystal Palace. (1:10)
Nicol critiques Konate’s ‘horrendous’ first-halfSteve Nicol talks about Ibrahima Konate’s struggles with Liverpool during the first-half of the game vs. Crystal Palace.
Steve Nicol talks about Ibrahima Konate’s struggles with Liverpool during the first-half of the game vs. Crystal Palace.