Liverpool have lost their first Premier League match of the season after being narrowly defeated by Crystal Palace. The matchup was highly hyped, mainly because Crystal Palace captain Marc Guéhi had his permission to undergo medicals and sign for Liverpool revoked by Palace on the final day of the transfer window.
Many, especially Liverpool fans, saw this as the club taking advantage of Guéhi, despite his professionalism in refusing to force a move. They believe Palace denied him his “dream move.” Guéhi’s contract is set to expire in 2026, and according to Fabrizio Romano, the English international centre-back has no plans to renew. However, most Liverpool fans fear they might lose him before his contract expires, as it’s reported that Real Madrid are eyeing the defender.
According to FIFA rules, Guéhi is free to negotiate a pre-contract with any club outside England starting in January, while clubs within England would have to wait until June 30th, 2026, to potentially sign him on a free transfer.
Despite all this, Guéhi continues to captain Crystal Palace — and fittingly, he led them to victory against Liverpool. Sarr scored for Palace in the 9th minute from a corner. Chiesa equalized in the 87th minute. However, what made the match ironic was that Guéhi himself provided the assist to Nketiah, who scored the late winner.
Liverpool were poor throughout the game and could easily have been trailing by a large margin in the first half if not for several excellent saves from Alisson. To make matters worse, Hugo Ekitike was unavailable for the match after receiving a second yellow card for taking off his shirt in Liverpool’s Carabao Cup win.
With this result, Crystal Palace are now the only unbeaten team in the Premier League after defeating Liverpool. It’s worth recalling that they also beat Liverpool earlier to win the Community Shield, their second major trophy after the FA Cup.
Liverpool will now turn their attention to Tuesday’s Champions League clash against Galatasaray at Rams Park, where they’ll be hoping to bounce back and put this defeat behind them.