Salomon Rondon dented 10-man Manchester United’s top-four challenge with a sharp second-half strike to maintain West Bromwich Albion’s Premier League revival on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Venezuela striker controlled Sebastien Pocognoli’s cross from the left before burying the ball into the left corner on 67 minutes against an increasingly toothless United, who had lost Juan Mata to a second yellow card on 26 minutes.
The Spain international was booked for not retreating and blocking a quickly-taken free kick before receiving his marching orders two minutes later for kicking Darren Fletcher’s shin in a clumsy tackle.
United’s first league defeat at The Hawthorns since 1984 kept them sixth in the table, three points behind Manchester City in fourth, while West Brom climbed to 11th with a third win in four league games.
Christian Benteke’s last-gasp penalty completed 10-man Liverpool’s fightback against Crystal Palace to keep alive their hopes of a top-four finish.
Substitute Benteke went down after a faint challenge by Damien Delaney deep in stoppage time and coolly slotted home to add to Robert Firmino’s equaliser on 72 minutes.
James Milner’s dismissal for a second yellow card on 62 minutes put Liverpool on the back foot, but Firmino took advantage of a scuffed clearance from Palace goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to cancel out Joe Ledley’s low drive just after the break.
“First half we started OK but forgot to shoot on the goal. But what we did in the end was brilliant,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp told Sky Sports.
“I feel sorry for Palace but I have just seen the replay (of the penalty decision) in the dressing room and it was a clear penalty. If there was no contact, Benteke would have been in a great position to shoot.”
Liverpool’s perseverance gave them a third straight Premier League win and took them up to seventh, six points behind Manchester City in fourth.
Alan Pardew’s men have now failed to win in 12 Premier League games and remain 15th, nine points above the relegation zone.
“I feel like we’ve been robbed a little bit but again maybe we shot ourselves in the foot a bit,” Pardew told BBC Sport.
“The keeper made a mistake, which cost us and made us edgy from that point and we never lost that edginess for the rest of the game.
“He (Benteke) certainly made a big meal of it (for the penalty). If it had been us, we would not have got it.”
