LONDON: Liverpool’s season went from bad to worse on Sunday, when it surrendered an early lead to lose 3-1 at struggling Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

After just 12 games, last year’s runner-up is failing to hit the heights that saw the side push Manchester City to the final day of the title race.

As Palace rose to 15th, Liverpool is only two points better off in 12th. Liverpool, struggling without striker Luis Suarez this season, has lost its last four matches in all competitions.

Rickie Lambert netted his first goal for Liverpool two minutes into his second league start, picking up Adam Lallana’s cross and slotting the ball past diving goalkeeper Julian Speroni.

Palace struck back 15 minutes later when Dwight Gayle tapped the ball home with a close-range finish after an effort by Yannick Bolasie rebounded off the left upright and fell at his feet.

Palace took the lead in the 78th minute when Bolasie placed a perfect cross into the box and Joe Ledley made no mistake, sending the ball into the back of the net.

Captain Mile Jedinak then curled a free kick over the wall and past Simon Mignolet three minutes later to secure Palace’s first win since September.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game,” Jedinak said. “We didn’t help ourselves by conceding so early on but I think the reaction from the boys after that was first class.”

Cool-headed Cagliari holds Napoli in 3-3 thriller

Cool-headed Cagliari fought back from a two-goal deficit to claim a precious 3-3 draw away to Napoli on Sunday, which left Rafael Benitez’s men six points behind second-placed Roma.

Juventus restored their three-point lead at the top of Serie A with a 3-0 rout of Lazio at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, after Roma had momentarily drawn level thanks to a 2-1 win away to Atalanta.

Napoli were hoping to make it three wins on the trot to maintain their title push but Benitez’s men blew a two-goal lead provided by Gonzalo Higuain and Gokhan Inler as tenacious Cagliari fought back to claim a share of the points.

Higuain, who now has seven goals this season, struck for the fifth consecutive league game when he hit a curling shot from just inside the area past Alessio Cragno after 11 minutes.

Inler doubled Napoli’s lead with a daisycutter from 30 yards that had Cragno clutching at thin air, but Napoli’s two-goal joy was short-lived.

Cagliari center-forward Victor Ibarbo pounced on a Napoli defensive blunder to fire past Rafael and reduce the arrears seven minutes before the interval.

Brazilian forward Diego Farias levelled matters two minutes after the restart when he ran unhindered to the back post to meet Luca Rossettini’s header.

Smiles were back on Napoli’s faces just after the hour when Jonathan De Guzman sent a fine angled header past the outstretched Cragno, but Farias levelled again six minutes later when he was picked out by Ibarbo’s pass at the back post.

Elsewhere, Fiorentina grabbed a precious 2-1 win away to Verona thanks to Juan Cuadrado’s 62nd minute winner after Nico Lopez had levelled the visitors’ 16th-minute opener from Gonzalo Rodriguez just before the interval.

Sampdoria, who are one point adrift in fourth, spurned the chance to leapfrog Napoli into third after settling for a 1-1 draw away to struggling Cesena.

The hosts opener the scoring through defender Stefano Lucchini on the hour mark but saw Constantin Nica turn the ball into his own net 13 minutes from time to hand Sinisa Mihajlovic’s visitors a share of the spoils.

Antonio Di Natale scored his 200th Serie A goal on what was his 400th league appearance when he gave Udinese a 1-0 half-time lead against Chievo, who saw Ivan Radovanovic hit a 74th-minute leveller to grab a point.

Parma’s woes continued, meanwhile, with Roberto Donadoni’s side succumbing 2-0 to promoted Empoli, leaving them rooted to the bottom with 10 defeats having leaked 30 goals in 12 games.