In his first competitive start for Liverpool, Nunez lost control after jostling with Joachim Andersen and thrust his head into the face of the Palace defender, earning the Uruguay striker a straight red card.

Even down to 10 men, the home side still managed to dominate the game at Anfield on Monday night and fellow South American Diaz earned his team a point by cutting in from the left, slipping between two defenders, and curling a shot into the far corner in front of the Kop.

"Sometimes you need a moment of brilliance," Liverpool midfielder James Milner said.

"And when you have players like Luis on the pitch, he can create something out of nothing. It was an incredible goal."

Palace relied almost exclusively on the counterattack and it was from that means that Wilfried Zaha opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, beating the offside trap to latch onto Eberechi Eze's through-ball and curl a finish low into the far corner.

Liverpool have now drawn their first two games -- Juergen Klopp's team were held 2-2 by Fulham on the opening weekend -- and are already four points behind early pacesetters Manchester City and Arsenal.

Their third match will be at Old Trafford next Monday against a beleaguered Manchester United team that have lost both of their games, and Nunez will be suspended for it.

The 23-year-old earned his first start after a couple of impressive, goalscoring displays off the bench in the Community Shield against Manchester City and then against Fulham, and also because Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota were missing through injury.

Nunez, a big money off-season signing from Benfica, missed a presentable early chance by miscuing a volley at the back post from Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross, and then he hit the post in the final minute of the first half.

Maybe some frustration had set by the time he was red-carded. As they jostled at the edge of Palace's penalty area, Nunez turned into Anderson and butted him square in the face on 57 minutes.

"It's a red card," Klopp said.

"He was provoked all the time but that is not how to behave."

The visitors still played on the counter even with a man extra and Zaha almost snatched a win when he stretched to meet a cross and hit the post.

Palace boss Patrick Vieira was satisfied with a draw, having had just 27 per cent possession and three shots on target.

"We could have won it. We could have lost it as well," he said.

"Of course I'm pleased with the point but even more with the quality that we showed today. We showed sides of the game that we need to show more often."

Australian Associated Press