There was a flurry of stoppage-time goals in the Premier League on Saturday — and one of them ended Liverpool’s 100% start to its title defense.
Eddie Nketiah’s strike in the seventh minute of added-on time secured Crystal Palace a 2-1 victory over the champions and extended the London team’s unbeaten run to 18 games stretching back to April.
Liverpool, which won its first five games of the campaign, saw its lead trimmed to three points — with second-place Palace now its unlikely closest challenger.
The Reds have made a habit of scoring late goals themselves this season and Federico Chiesa’s 87th-minute effort looked like securing a draw at Selhurst Park — or even giving them a chance of grabbing a sixth straight win.
Chelsea played almost the whole second half with 10 men against Brighton and paid the price, conceding two goals in stoppage time to lose 3-1 for a second straight defeat.
Erling Haaland scored in the 90th minute and again in injury time to wrap up Manchester City’s 5-1 win over Burnley.
Tottenham scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time through Joao Palhinha to draw 1-1 with Wolverhampton, which collected its first point of the campaign.
And Manchester United’s latest loss was sealed by a stoppage-time goal for Brentford, which won 3-1. It could have been so different had Bruno Fernandes’ penalty not been saved by Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher in the 76th minute, denying United an equalizer for 2-2.
Bournemouth also scored in stoppage time to earn a 2-2 draw at Leeds and Sunderland won 1-0 at Nottingham Forest, whose recently hired manager Ange Postecoglou has yet to win a game in five matches at his new club.
Liverpool had not been entirely convincing in gaining a maximum 15 points and Arne Slot’s team was undone again by Palace, which beat the Reds in a penalty shootout to win the Community Shield before the English season began.
Palace took the lead in the ninth minute through Ismaila Sarr and wasted a string of chances to move further ahead — with striker Jean-Philippe Mateta the biggest culprit.
Nketiah’s goal was scrappy but maintained Palace’s long undefeated run under Oliver Glasner, who has kept the team playing well despite losing star midfielder Eberechi Eze to Arsenal late in the transfer window.
“If one team deserved to win today it was Palace,” Slot said. (JapanToday)
Full time was approaching at Anfield and it was clear something special was needed to separate Liverpool and Arsenal as they slugged out an early-season heavyweight contest in the Premier League on Sunday.
Enter Dominik Szoboszlai.
With a long-range free kick that flew in off the post in the 83rd minute, Szoboszlai earned Liverpool a hard-fought 1-0 win over the opponent likely to be the biggest challenger to its title.
“The game needed a moment of magic for either team to win it,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot said, “and it was Dominik who did so.”
Many thought Manchester City would be back in the title race this season, but perhaps not.
Collapsing to a 2-1 loss at Brighton, for a second straight loss, was another sign that Pep Guardiola’s once-dominant team has lost its aura.
“This is the reality — we are not at the level from a long time (ago),” City midfielder Rodri said.
Szoboszlai is popular among Liverpool fans for his work ethic and versatility, and the Hungary midfielder was filling in at right back — for so long the position of the now-departed Trent Alexander-Arnold — because of injuries to Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong.
Szoboszlai did his best impression of Alexander-Arnold with a top-quality dead-ball strike that was out of keeping with the rest of the game.
“Until now Trent was taking them,” Szoboszlai said of his former teammate who now plays for Real Madrid. “Now I could finally take one.”
It secured a third straight win for Liverpool, with the defending champions the only team on a maximum nine points after three rounds of the Premier League. They’ve already beaten two tough rivals in Newcastle and Arsenal, too.
As for Arsenal, it was a first loss this season — extending its winless record at Anfield dating back to 2012 — and a first league goal conceded by a defense that was without center back William Saliba from the fifth minute at Anfield because of a leg injury.
“When you play against this kind of team and at a high level where the margins are minimal, they can be decided by a magic moment,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “We needed that moment for us and we didn’t have it.”
The defeat at Brighton followed a 2-0 home loss to Tottenham last weekend for City, which is demonstrating the same vulnerabilities and brittleness it showed last season when surrendering the title to Liverpool after four consecutive years as champions.
Brajan Gruda surged through an open defense, rounded goalkeeper James Trafford and slotted into an empty net for the 89th-minute winner for Brighton, which trailed to Erling Haaland’s first-half strike — his 88th goal in 100 Premier League appearances since moving to England in 2022.
City, which gave a first start to Rodri — the Ballon d’Or winner — since September last year following a serious knee injury, conceded an equalizer in the 67th minute after Matheus Nunes raised his arm in the area to block a shot.
James Milner converted the penalty for Brighton to become — at age 39 years and 239 days — the second-oldest scorer in Premier League history. He is also the second youngest, having netted as a 16-year-old for Leeds.
With City noticeably fading, Brighton created a succession of chances before Gruda converted one to seal a repeat of his team’s come-from-behind 2-1 win over City last season.
“We forgot to play,” Guardiola said.
City’s only points so far this season have come from a 4-0 opening-round win at Wolverhampton, after which pundits were saying Guardiola’s team was back. Now, it has fewer points than Manchester United.
West Ham eased the pressure on manager Graham Potter with a 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest, secured by goals from the 84th minute by Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta — from the penalty spot — and Callum Wilson.
West Ham lost its first two games in the league, conceding eight goals in the process, and also was eliminated from the English League Cup in midweek.
Paqueta, the Brazil midfielder, celebrated his successful penalty kick by pretending to answer a call and throw away a phone before kissing the badge on his jersey — perhaps a nod to being linked over the past 24 hours with a move to Aston Villa.
World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper Emi Martinez was left out of Aston Villa’s team for the 3-0 home loss to Crystal Palace amid speculation about his future.
Reports have linked Martinez with a move to Manchester United ahead of the transfer window closing on Monday, and Villa manager Unai Emery chose to play Marco Bizot in goal instead.
Bizot gave away a penalty that was converted in the 21st minute by Jean-Philippe Mateta to give Palace the lead, before captain Marc Guehi — reportedly the subject of a bid from Liverpool — curled a second into the top corner in the 68th. Ismaila Sarr added a third before going off injured. (JapanToday)
Manchester United is still searching for its first win of the season in the Premier League after squandering the lead in a 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday.
Everton did get off the mark, though, beginning life in its new waterfront home at Bramley-Moore Dock with a 2-0 win over Brighton thanks to an impressive display by Jack Grealish.
United was looking to follow up a mostly encouraging display in defeat to Arsenal in the opening round last weekend and missed a chance to take a first-half lead against Fulham when Bruno Fernandes blazed a penalty over the crossbar, moments after stumbling into the referee.
It needed an own-goal by Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz, who deflected in a header at a corner from United’s Leny Yoro, to give United the lead in the 58th.
Ruben Amorim’s team couldn’t hold on as substitute Emile Smith Rowe poked home a cross from Alex Iwobi for the 73rd-minute equalizer.
It means a United player has yet to score a goal this season following an offseason when the club spent around 200 million pounds ($270 million) on revamping its attack with the additions of Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko. Sesko was a second-half substitute for the second straight match.
In his first start for Everton, Grealish showed glimpses of the player who once was the poster boy of English soccer.
The England forward, who is on loan from Manchester City in a bid to resurrect his career, dribbled into the area and crossed for fellow winger Iliman Ndiaye to volley home the first goal of a new era for Everton following the team’s emotional departure from Goodison Park, its long-time home. Coincidentally, Ndiaye also scored the last goal at Goodison in May.
By providing a layoff for James Garner to drive home Everton’s second goal from outside the area, Grealish grabbed a second assist of the game — as many as he managed in total across the past two Premier League seasons at City.
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved a penalty from Danny Welbeck to the delight of the home fans among the 51,759 inside their new stadium that was built in the hope of taking an underachieving club in recent years to a new level. Not for the first time, Pickford was seen checking his water bottle ahead of a penalty kick because he keeps the name of potential opposition penalty-takers on the drinking vessel and where they might hit their attempt.
It was Everton’s first win of the season, after a 1-0 loss at Leeds in the opening round.
Crystal Palace fans weren’t afraid to make their feelings known about Nottingham Forest during the teams’ 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park.
Palace, the FA Cup winner last season, was demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League last month for breaching UEFA rules on club ownership, in a saga the club believes was influenced by Forest and owner Evangelos Marinakis, who benefited by being promoted to the Europa League at Palace’s expense.
A spicy pre-match banner took a pop at Marinakis, as did some abusive chants from Palace’s notoriously boisterous supporters that also targeted UEFA.
Ismaila Sarr gave Palace a 37th-minute lead before Callum Hudson-Odoi equalized in the 57th for Forest, whose manager Nuno Espirito Santo was in the dugout for the match despite concerns about his job amid rising tensions with Marinakis over the summer. (SportsNet)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected Crystal Palace’s appeal against their demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League over multi-club ownership (MCO) rules.
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) ruled last month that Palace were too closely linked to Lyon.
Palace’s appeal had three strands: the CFCB’s decision was unfair and unjust, against Forest being elevated to the Europa League, and against Lyon’s participation. All three were rejected by CAS.
Nottingham Forest are the beneficiaries, promoted from the Conference League to play in the Europa League. Palace must enter the Conference League in the playoff round later this month, when they will play the losers of the Europa League tie between Fredrikstad and FC Midtjylland — the second leg is being played on Thursday.
Palace qualified for the Europa League by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May, but seven days later Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the Coupe de France final meant Lyon moved up from the Conference League to the Europa League.
If two clubs are in violation of the MCO regulation, the team that finishes higher in the league will play in the European competition. Even though Palace (12th) won the FA Cup and Lyon (sixth) only qualified on a technicality, the league placing alone determined the right to play.
It all came down to the shareholding of John Textor, through Eagle Football Holdings Limited, who had a controlling interest in Lyon and 43.9% of Palace. The Premier League club argued that Textor had no say in the running of Palace, but regulations relating to decisive influence forbid any party from holding more than 30% of the total shareholding in more than one club in the same competition.
Textor last month completed the sale of his Palace stake to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, but UEFA’s rules are determined by a club’s situation as of March 1.
A CAS statement said: “After considering the evidence, the Panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA’s assessment date.
“The Panel also dismissed the argument by CPFC that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and OL. The Panel considered that the UEFA Regulations are clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date, as CPFC claimed.”
Before this summer, no club had been removed from European competition due to MCO rules, but Palace became the third to be affected by the new stricter application of the regulations which required clubs to be compliant by March 1, rather than June 3 as in recent seasons.
Crystal Palace players with the Community Shield trophy
Irish club Drogheda United were scratched from the Conference League due to an ownership conflict with Danish club Silkeborg IF, and Hungary’s Győri ETO will take part in the Conference League with FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda removed.
Drogheda won the FAI Cup in November, with the Irish league run on a calendar basis. It wasn’t until June 1 that Silkeborg qualified for the Conference League — three months after the new MCO deadline. Drogheda and FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda appealed to the CAS, but lost.
Drogheda’s appeal was very similar to Palace’s, with complaints about the March 1 deadline and “alleged unequal treatment by UEFA.” As CAS had already ruled against the Irish side, creating precedent, Palace were always going to face a difficult struggle to come away with a favourable verdict.
Palace and Drogheda would both likely argue that it’s unfair to place such restrictions on clubs that usually have no chance of qualifying for Europe.
When the March 1 deadline approached, Palace had not played their fifth round tie in the FA Cup. For Drogheda, who finished ninth, they did already know they had European football, but Silkeborg (seventh) were not expected to do so and claimed a European playoff in Denmark only after finishing top of the relegation group.
Earlier this year, Liga MX’s Club León were removed from the FIFA Club World Cup due to an ownership conflict with fellow Mexican club Pachuca, indicating a change in approach to MCO from football’s regulatory bodies.
The decision from CAS comes after Palace triumphed over Liverpool to lift the Community Shield on Sunday.
With the scores locked at 2-2 after 90 minutes, Palace prevailed with a 3-1 win in the shootout to lift their second piece of silverware in the space of three months.
Palace chairman and co-owner Steve Parish, speaking after his team’s win at Wembley, said the south London club would look for any alternative solutions should the verdict not go their way.
“If we don’t get the right outcome, then we will have to look if there’s any steps after that,” Parish said. (ESPN)
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