Soccer: Title hopes all but gone as Liverpool let precious points slip away

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard (left) and Luis Suarez are crestfallen. Photo / AP

It will at least go to the last day of the season on Monday, but when the Premier League title race is this good, the only pity is that the entertainment has to end then.

If the advantage belonged to Manchester City before yesterday then they surely cannot throw it away now with a win and a draw in their final two games likely to be enough to finish as champions, starting with the game against Aston Villa tomorrow.

What a race it has been and few better games than yesterday when Liverpool squandered a 3-0 lead in less than 10 minutes as they tried to chase down the goal difference advantage held over them by City.

Luis Suarez, the double player of the year, was in tears at the end of the game, his head buried in his shirt as he left the pitch.

This is what it feels like to throw away the first chance of a title in 24 years at the club who thought that finally they might just have lifted the curse.

Brendan Rodgers' team tried, three goals to the good, to reduce the nine-goal advantage held over them by City, and in doing so neglected to hold on to the points.

From Damien Delaney's first goal on 79 minutes, the whole thing fell apart for Liverpool. Rodgers chased the goals with his substitutions, insomuch as he brought on attackers for attackers, rather than defenders for attackers. Trying to whittle away City's goal difference was always going to be a tall order but, with a comfortable lead over Palace, Liverpool left themselves perilously open on the counter-attack.

There were two further goals from the substitute Dwight Gayle which levelled the game. Palace were thrilling on the counter-attack and punished Liverpool again and again.

These are the kind of games that define a season and Rodgers' team did not have enough about them to dominate Palace at both ends.

In the end it became so open, and Liverpool so stretched that it was Palace who took advantage. First Rodgers' team lost concentration after a substitution, when Philippe Coutinho came on for Sterling. The ball was worked left to the defender Delaney and his shot took a hefty deflection off Glen Johnson and past Mignolet.

Then a fantastic break from Yannick Bolasie, who seemed not to be tired at all when he left Johnson as stationary as a training cone on his way down the Palace left. Bolasie was a blur of activity but was composed enough to cross for Gayle for the second.

The third came when Glenn Murray directed the ball with his chest into the path of Gayle who slipped it past Mignolet.

It was a crushing blow for Liverpool from which they will struggle to recover this season. Independent