When you think back to Liverpool’s stunning collapse to surrender the 2013-14 Premier League title, chances are you remember the Steven Gerrard slip.

That came with three games to go. Chelsea were the visitors and Gerrard’s untimely loss of footing allowed Demba Ba to run through and score.

The west London side would go on to win the game 2-0, with Jose Mourinho banging the Chelsea badge on his blue gilet in front of the away fans.

To mark the Year of the Horse, we tell Chelsea-related tales from previous such cycles in the Lunar New Year… 👀🐎 https://t.co/cxtAKVaSqV

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 17, 2026

But if the loss to Chelsea was the dagger in the heart of Liverpool’s title bid, the next game was the decapitation.

At a time when cooler heads were struggling to prevail, it was hard to see Liverpool’s loss to Chelsea as anything but gift-wrapping the Premier League trophy to Manchester City.

In reality, Liverpool still had a decent chance of winning their first league title in 24 years.

After the Chelsea game, Liverpool had dropped from top spot but only on goal difference with City now leading. The two teams had kept a similar scoring pacing, both nearing 100, but City’s defence had been stronger, giving them a 12-goal difference over their Merseyside opponents.

The path to victory for Liverpool then was to win both games and hope City dropped points or to win by such a margin that they swing the goal difference in their favour.

It wasn’t an unrealistic prospect either, City did have the harder fixtures. While they had two home games, they faced two teams in Aston Villa and West Ham that were yet to be mathematically clear of relegation.

Liverpool meanwhile knew that if they got through the game against Palace, they would play the final match of the season at Anfield against a Newcastle side that was safe in ninth but had a minus 18 goal difference, the worst in the top half of the table.

If given the choice, Brendan Rodgers may well have chosen Palace as the team he fancied to face at this point of the season. They were 11th and already confirmed their place in the Premier League next season. Selhurst Park is about 40 miles away from the coast but Palace should already be on the beach.

Palace were on a good run of form, winning their previous five out of six, but surely, surely Liverpool would comfortably knock them over.

Enter Tony Pulis.

If there was ever a man born to ruin a party, it was Pulis. After the Chelsea defeat, Rodgers complained about the defensive tactics deployed by Mourinho. Pulis probably sat in his wingback armchair at home and a smile appeared across his lips.

The fixture had been selected for the Monday night, meaning Steven Gerrard led his Liverpool team out into the setting South London sun with a point to prove.

The initial focus was on Gerrard. How would the man who was as Liverpool as the Beatles and turning K into Ch when speaking recover from being the man who may have cost them the Premier League title?

That answer was given very quickly. In front of a Crystal Palace stand full of fans that were very clearly up for it, Gerrard whipped in a corner to an unmarked Joe Allen at the back post. The smallest man on the pitch scored against a defence that had not conceded a set-piece goal all season.

The first half ran out as exactly as Liverpool would have hoped. They had 68% of the ball, 12 shots to Palace’s three and were in complete control, much to Pulis’ annoyance.

He told the BBC later that year that he gave his centre-halves Scott Dann and Damien Delaney a b*llocking for not getting close enough to Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, which is easier said than done.

The words of wisdom appeared to go in one ear and out the other as Liverpool scored two quick goals to begin the second half.

Sterling skipped away from the pressure of Joel Ward while both Dann and Delaney had dropped deep to cover the run of Suarez.

The two got closer to tackling each other as Sturridge’s effort deflected off Delaney’s trailing foot and past a helpless Julian Speroni.

Remembering his manager’s half-time words, Delaney soon charges out to try and close down Suarez just past the centre circle in Palace’s half.

His horror show of a second half continues as he instead controls it for Suarez before being completely wrong-footed as the Uruguayan charges at the two Palace defenders now left.

Raheem Sterling was on hand to relieve the pass and pull Dann away from Suarez and even with the English winger’s pass being completely underhit, Dann misses it and Suarez gets it through Speroni’s legs on the way to the net.

Liverpool smelt blood, but in many ways the quick nature of their two goals proved to be their demise.

Rodgers revealed the message at half-time was just to win and that “if it’s 1-0, it’s 1-0.” but asking for calm heads at this time was too much for a team that had been feeding off euphoria.

Ahead of the Chelsea game, Liverpool had won their last 10 Premier League games. They had led the league for the past four weeks and 24 years of pent-up frustration had morphed into a feeling of this finally being the year, of it being destiny. For a long while, Rodgers and the players harnessed that feeling.

This was not just any team either, for you would be hard-pressed to find another city in England where football is more woven into the fabric than it is in Liverpool. They had suffered at the hands of Manchester United and now they needed it to be their turn.

That pandemonium was going through the players’ minds when Suarez raced to grab the ball at 3-0.

It was a powder keg ready to explode and the Selhurst Park faithful needed little reason to believe. The spark that set the whole thing ablaze came from the man who had helped gift Liverpool two goals, Damien Delaney.

In pushing forward for more goals, Liverpool had left themselves open at the back. The midfield pair of Gerrard and Lucas were particularly at fault for allowing Delaney to reach just outside the box completely unmarked.

The back four had all dropped deep, prompting Glen Johnson to neither go with his fellow defenders or close down Delaney. Instead, he stood stiff, waited for Delaney to shoot and turned his body sideways in order to protect himself.

Having been the victim of a deflection earlier in the half, Delaney was now the beneficiary of one. The ball came off the stomach of Johnson and went straight into the top left corner.

At the time, Martin Tyler, who was on commentary for Sky, said it would “get the goal difference back for Liverpool” with the possibility of something even worse not yet entering his mind.

Right then, Rodgers should have reacted. He had two experienced centre-backs in Daniel Agger and Kolo Toure sitting on the bench but they remained uncalled for as Liverpool pushed forward once again.

Just a minute later, Liverpool had seven men in the opposition box when Palace’s Yannick Bolasie skipped past the half-hearted tackle from Philippe Coutinho. Johnson again adopted the ‘stand still and hope I get him’ approach, which Bolasie said ‘thank you very much to’ as he knocked it by him.

The Liverpool players did get back but to nowhere useful. Dwight Gayle gave Jon Flanagan a shoulder feint, meaning he had plenty of room to poke home Bolasie’s pass.

You could barely hear the stadium announcer announcing the goal over the sound of the crowd. Palace was up for it. Selhurst Park was up for it. Liverpool were collapsing under the fear of their own nightmare.

This time Rodgers did react, but he only took off Sturridge for Victor Moses who at this point in his career was still a winger.

The midfield two of Lucas and Gerrard were completely bypassed once again as a chipped ball was controlled by the chest of Glenn Murray.

Martin Skrtel had come out to try and get close to Murray, leaving a gaping hole for Gayle. He waited for the ball to bounce before slotting it past Mignolet. The Liverpool collapse was complete.

“Liverpool have caved in,” shouted Tyler. Rodgers had a blank expression on his face, masking what must have been absolute despair on the inside.

The final whistle blew soon after. Liverpool, whose modern history had been built on the overturning of a 3-0 deficit, had just been on the wrong side of that very moment.

Gerrard was on his haunches. Suarez cried into his shirt as he bent over. With that, Liverpool’s title hopes were over.

“There is no doubt Manchester City will go on and win it,” said Rodgers. “We needed to win to keep the pressure on going into the last game and we did not do that.”

Winning the Premier League title would have been the apex of Rodgers’ career. He would have had a figure as beloved as Klopp. Maybe they could have kept hold of Suarez for another year and made a push in the Champions League.

That night in South London completely changed the trajectory of Liverpool Football Club. The always next year team would have to wait another year at least. In the end, they had to wait another six.

Since that night, Liverpool have won 10 times at Selhurst Park, including a 7-0 thumping, and yet Selhurst Park will always be a painful memory.

Nine minutes of madness had defined a whole season in one of the greatest Premier League moments of all time.

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