Crystal Palace heaped more misery on Liverpool when they came from behind to win 3-1 in the Premier League on Sunday, six months after effectively ending the northern club’s title hopes when they drew 3-3 in their decisive clash last year.
The Reds finished second last season but, like Tottenham Hotspur, have started this term poorly and are looking to climb out of the mid-table and back up the standings.
However, Spurs brushed off their poor start to rally to a 2-1 win at Hull City on Sunday, moving them from 12th to 10th, as Liverpool dropped a place to 12th after losing again at Palace, where their title hopes were spectacularly dashed in May last year when they let slip a 3-0 lead as the Eagles fought back to level.
Photo: Reuters
This time, the Reds wasted a lead they took in the second minute when Rickie Lambert scored his first goal for the club following his move from Southampton in the close season.
Instead of building on it, they crashed to a third successive league defeat as Palace ended a run of five league games without a win.
Goals from Dwight Gayle after 17 minutes, Joe Ledley and a superb free-kick from skipper Mile Jedinak in the last 12 minutes gave Palace the points that lifted them out of the bottom three to 15th on 12 points — two behind Liverpool.
Photo: EPA
Former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher, now a TV pundit, was scathing about the Reds’ performance.
“When they came here [to Selhurst Park] last season, we said they were mentally and physically weak. Same again now, nothing has changed,” he said on Sky Sports.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told Sky Sports: “We made the perfect start but failed to manage the game at 1-0. Obviously, I need to take full responsibility.”
Spurs gave a typical performance, especially in the first half when they flattered to deceive and Hull looked the better side.
However, Tottenham ended the happier despite having to wait until the 90th minute for Christian Eriksen’s winner against the home side, who had three former Spurs players — Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore — in their starting lineup.
Inevitably, it was one of them who scored against their old club, with Livermore cracking home from outside the box after eight minutes.
However, Hull lost their way after Uruguayan Gaston Ramirez was sent off for kicking out at Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen in an off- the-ball incident after 50 minutes and Spurs dominated from then on.
Spurs leveled through Harry Kane after 61 minutes when he was first to react after an Eriksen free kick rebounded back off a post for his 10th goal in 11 matches, before the Dane scored the winner in the dying minutes with a low shot that eluded Hull ’keeper Allan McGregor.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two