Liverpool’s woes grow with loss to Palace - Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Newcastle win in League Cup

LIVERPOOL, England:

Liverpool fielded a weakened team and got duly punished in a 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace in the League Cup yesterday, the latest setback to strike the beleaguered English Premier League champions.

Ismaila Sarr scored two first-half goals at Anfield and Yeremy Pino added a third for Palace, which consigned Liverpool to a sixth defeat in their last seven games in all competitions.

Also advancing to the quarter-finals were Premier League leaders Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea, while defending League Cup champions Newcastle beat Tottenham 2-0.

After four straight losses in their tottering Premier League title defence, Liverpool are now out of one of the two domestic cups in what is proving to be an unexpectedly poor start to the season.

This latest loss can at least be explained by manager Arne Slot resting most of his top players - like Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak - and not even putting them on the bench.

A team filled mostly with youngsters was cut apart by Sarr, who scored in the 41st and 45th minutes to add to his goals for Palace in victories over Liverpool in the Community Shield - in a penalty shootout - and the Premier League already this season.

Amara Nallo, an 18-year-old defender, came on as a 67th-minute substitute for Liverpool and was sent off 12 minutes later for committing a foul as the last defender. In his only other appearance for the Reds - in the Champions League in January - Nallo was also red-carded four minutes after coming on as a sub.

Pino scored Palace's third goal in the 88th.

ARSENAL RECORD-BREAKER

Max Dowman became Arsenal's youngest-ever starter, at 15 years, 302 days, in the team's 2-0 win over Brighton.

The league leaders also played a weakened team but that didn't affect them, with Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka - on as a substitute for Dowman - netting the goals.

Man City came from behind to beat second-tier Swansea 3-1, with Jeremy Doku, Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki scoring.

Prolific City striker Erling Haaland was rested completely, not even making it onto the bench.

CHELSEA'S LATEST RED

Chelsea beat Wolverhampton 4-3 in a wild match at Molineux featuring a fifth red card of the season for Enzo Maresca's ill-disciplined team.

Chelsea went 3-0 up by halftime, thanks to goals by Andrey Santos, Tyrique George and Estevao, only for Wolves to reply through Tolu Arokodare and David Moller Wolfe.

Liam Delap, making his comeback from injury, was sent off in the 86th for collecting two yellow cards before Jamie Gittens made it 4-2. Wolfe scored again for Wolves in stoppage time.

Newcastle's first goal against Tottenham - a header from Fabian Schar from a corner - was contentious, with the set piece swung in just as Spurs defender Djed Spence got to his feet after putting his boot back on.

Tottenham's protests to the referee were ignored, and Nick Woltemade added a second by heading in a cross ahead of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who missed his attempted punch clear.

AP