Crystal Palace came from a goal down to inflict a fourth successive defeat for Liverpool on a wet afternoon at Selhurst Park yesterday.

Strikes from Dwight Gayle, Joe Ledley and a superb Mile Jedinak free-kick ensured another miserable visit to South London for Brendan Rodgers’s side.

The game began so well for the Reds as Rickie Lambert marked his first Premier League start for the club with a goal after just two minutes, latching onto a pin point through ball from Adam Lallana to find the net with a composed finish.

Gayle, who came off the bench and scored twice in that memorable 3-3 comeback at the back end of last season, haunted Liverpool once again as he followed up from Yannick Bolasie’s effort which hit the post to equalise for the Eagles after 17 minutes.

The second half proved to be a more even affair but two late goals turned the game in favour of the home side.

Firstly with just over 10 minutes left, the Eagles took the lead as the impressive Bolasie saw his cut-back turned in from close range by Ledley to send the home fans into euphoria.

Then captain Jedinak produced a brilliant free-kick to put the game beyond doubt minutes later.

A downbeat Rodgers was unhappy following the defeat. He said: “It was bitterly disappointing. It was nowhere near the levels that we’d expect and after a very good start.

“I think you’ve seen the team low on confidence today and just not quite together as a team which is what we pride our work on, so we need to find a solution very quickly because it was very disappointing.”

Meanwhile, Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock was elated with his side after they secured their first win in five games. He said: “That was the best performance since I have come back to the club. I thought the weather helped. Our crowd were fantastic.”