Luton Town vs Liverpool score, result, highlights as Luis Diaz rescues point for Reds after Darwin Nunez miss

Kyle Bonn

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Luton Town vs Liverpool score, result, highlights as Luis Diaz rescues point for Reds after Darwin Nunez miss image

The Premier League script writers were at their very best at Kenilworth Road on Sunday.

A truly terrible miss by Darwin Nunez seemed to spell doom for Liverpool, as Tahith Chong’s goal 10 minutes from time promised to be their undoing.

Yet Luis Diaz, in his first appearance since his father’s kidnapping back home in Colombia, came off the bench to rescue the Reds with an emotional moment to save a point from what felt an otherwise unescapable fate across the 90-plus minutes of action.

Liverpool pummeled Luton Town repeatedly from start to finish, but goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski repeatedly turned them away. Nunez then produced one of his trademark misses with 15 minutes to go, and it felt as if that could be their undoing.

Indeed, that narrative seemingly came to pass as Luton substitute Tahith Chong came off the bench to put the hosts in front with a ferocious counter-attack, punishing the Nunez miss and validating Kaminski's exceptional performance in net.

Yet Liverpool, ever up to adversity this season, stood tall in its face yet again as Diaz was on hand in the 96th minute to head the Reds back level. While they'll be disappointed to drop points against a relegation candidate, they will no doubt take great emotional uplifting from Diaz's goal, as the Colombian showed his message of "free my father" in his celebration.

The Sporting News was following the Luton Town vs Liverpool match live, providing score updates, commentary and highlights as they happened.

Luton Town vs Liverpool final score

  Score Goal scorers
Luton Town 1 Chong (80')
Liverpool 1 Diaz (90+5')

Kickoff: 4:30 p.m. local (11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT)
Location: Kenilworth Road (Luton, England)
Referee: Andy Madley

Starting lineups:

Luton Town (3-5-2, right to left): 24. Kaminski (GK) – 2. Osho, 4. Lockyer, 15. Mengi — 12. Kabore, 6. Barkley, 13. Nakamba, 30. Townsend (Chong, 60'), 45. Doughty — 9. Morris (Adebayo, 75'), 7. Ogbene.

Liverpool (4-3-3, right to left): 1. Alisson (GK) — 66. Alexander-Arnold, 5. Konate, 4. Van Dijk, 2. Gomez (Tsimikas, 67')— 8. Szoboszlai (Elliott, 67'), 10. Mac Allister, 38. Gravenberch (Diaz, 84') — 11. Salah, 9. Jota (Gakpo, 67'), 20. Nunez.

Luton Town vs Liverpool live updates, highlights, commentary

FULLTIME: Luton Town 1-1 Liverpool

That's it! An absolutely enthralling match with plenty of twists and turns finishes level! Thomas Kaminski frustrated Liverpool on multiple occasions, and Darwin Nunez's miss was a pivotal moment in the match.

It seemed Tahith Chong had won it for Luton Town, but Liverpool responded with an emotional equaliser from Luis Diaz, who scores a critical goal to salvage a point. It's still an adverse result for the Reds, but they at least get something from the match and yet again prove themselves up to adversity.

Luton Town vs Liverpool: Second Half

90+10 min: Chance, Luton Town! ALISSON PRESERVES THE POINTS WITH A GREAT SAVE! He stops a shot from an extremely tight angle as Luton Town looked poised to take the lead again!

90+5 min: GOAL! LIVERPOOL! LUIS DIAZ HAS BROUGHT THE REDS LEVEL WITH AN EMOTIONAL EQUALISING GOAL! What a moment for the Colombian, who heads the Reds level and reveals a message to his kidnapped father on his undershirt! "Libertad Para Papa" it reads, or "Freedom for dad."

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89th min: Some excellent defending by Issa Kabore to dispossess multiple Liverpool players sees him down in a heap near the corner flag, fouled by Kostas Tsimikas. He needs treatment, which frustrates his Luton teammates a bit who had hoped to keep the physio on the touchline, but it's clear there's something wrong.

A whopping eight minutes of stoppage time is shown by the fourth official.

84th min: Luton Town waste a free-kick chance in the attacking third as the delivery is blasted way over the crowd of players. Liverpool bring on Luis Diaz to replace Ryan Gravenberch, as Ibrahima Konate heads wide of Thomas Kaminski's far post.

80th min: GOAL! LUTON TOWN! THE HOSTS HAVE SNATCHED THE LEAD WITH 10 MINUTES TO GO! A vicious counter-attack has torn Liverpool to shreds, and Tahith Chong finishes off the chance as he slides to put the ball past Alisson! Liverpool players are vociferously protesting the goal, but replay shows Chong is well onside for Issa Kabore's assist down the right, and the goal will stand!

It comes off a good Liverpool chance as a ferocious header was blocked by another Reds forward, and Luton Town go right down the other end and score. WHAT a moment for Chong and Luton Town!

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75th min: Luton Town make another change, with striker Carlton Morris replaced by Elijah Adebayo. Jurgen Klopp is shown a yellow card by the official for his protests of a call. Minutes later, Chiedozie Ogbene is replaced as well, with Jacob Brown entering the pitch.

72nd min: Chance, Liverpool! Thomas Kaminski denies Darwin Nunez for a third time in the match! It's fed to Mohamed Salah down the right, and he plays Nunez in but the Uruguayan sees his effort parried out for a corner by another great save!

Replay shows that Salah was offside, so had it found the net it would have been ruled out.

70th min: Chance, Liverpool! DARWIN NUNEZ MISSES A SITTER! It's crossed to Mohamed Salah at the far post, and he heads it square across goal to Nunez, who has the entire goal wide open from two yards out, but it's blasted over! That's unfortunately becoming classic Darwin Nunez, and he's added another utterly putrid miss to his collection.

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65th min: Chance, Luton Town! What a terrible decision by Chiedozie Ogbene! He slices the Liverpool back line apart with ease, bursting down the left touchline around Joe Gomez before meandering around two more defenders, but right at the moment where he's one-on-one with Alisson from a tight angle, he squares it to nobody instead of having a hit on goal!

The ball does drop to Carlton Morris off a deflection, but Alisson has closed it down by then. That's the moment Luton Town have worked so hard for, and he's wasted it!

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64th min: Tahith Chong has come on and immediately won two fouls, the latest from Joe Gomez who is lucky not to be booked for a late tackle. That sees Jurgen Klopp tell Kostas Tsimikas to get ready for an entrance on the touchline, and it appears a change is imminent.

He enters minutes later, alongside Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott, with Diogo Jota and Dominic Szoboszlai replaced.

58th min: This Luton Town back line is all over the place, but they're causing problems for this Liverpool buildup anyways with their energy and fitness. Every time the Reds think they're in, there's three defenders suddenly in their way. It's forcing overhit through-balls and poor link-up in the final third, and when the hosts try to counter, Liverpool are forced to commit silly fouls.

Andros Townsend now comes off the pitch, and gives Kenilworth Road a big hand, and the fans respond with their own show of appreciation. A very quality 60 minutes from the short-term signing, who is replaced by former Manchester United youngster Tahith Chong.

54th min: A yellow card is shown to Alexis Mac Allister who is late to a challenge with Andros Townsend and bundles over the former Crystal Palace man. A good burst from Townsend to reach the ball draws the booking, and his Argentine opponent shows some frustration with himself for that silly tackle, now suspended for Liverpool's next match after triggering a one-game accumulation suspension. Maybe Townsend isn't quite out of gas just yet!

51st min: Andros Townsend is whistled for a foul as he drags Diogo Jota back on the touchline. He looks absolutely gassed, but waves to the bench to hold up on substituting him just yet. In his first start since tearing his ACL, he's put in a shift, but his fitness levels have to be built up to a full 90 minutes, and he doesn't quite appear there yet.

Down the other end, Luton Town have their first shot on target, a curler by Ogbene, but it's weak and bounces once straight into the chest of Alisson who barely has to move to collect the effort.

More fireworks go off outside the stadium as the Luton Town substitutes begin to warm up.

49th min: It's been all Liverpool to start the second half, but no true chances on goal just yet. Fireworks go off right outside Kenilworth Road!

Kickoff: The teams are back out for the final 45 minutes, and we're under way! No changes for either side, as both teams look to push on with points still, for the moment, up for grabs. Luton Town may think about some alterations if this game flow continues, however. It feels a matter of time before Liverpool find the net and take the lead.

HALFTIME: Luton Town 0-0 Liverpool

The visitors completely dominated that first 45 minutes, but have nothing to show for it as Luton Town goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was exceptional to deny three different chances for Liverpool forwards. Darwin Nunez has five efforts on goal, putting two on target and hitting the woodwork once, while Diogo Jota was also stymied once by the home netminder.

For their part, Luton Town showed excellent work rate and energy, but had little quality in the final third to back it up. Thus, we end scoreless.

Luton Town vs Liverpool: First Half

44th min: The first yellow card of the match has now been shown as Luton Town midfielder Marvelous Nakamba arrives very late to a tackle with Alexis Mac Allister and has been punished for it.

It's a really bad tackle, and the referee didn't have much evaluating to do before reaching for his pocket. There's a short VAR review for a possible red card, but Nakamba survives without further punishment. It's borderline, and yellow is probably the right decision — only just — but we've seen players sent off for less.

Two minutes of added time are shown.

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40th min: Liverpool players are screaming for a handball in midfield and the referee obliges, but again no booking is shown to Chiedozie Ogbene. The Reds are starting to get frustrated with official Andy Madley's leniency, and captain Virgil van Dijk has to come flying in to clear out his teammates from surrounding the referee. Good captaining that by the Dutchman!

It's this writer's opinion that neither recent incident warranted a yellow card, and that the official has done quite well so far. I'm sure plenty of Liverpool fans would disagree, but that's the nature of this sport!

37th min: Alexis Mac Allister is down holding his face after he caught a trailing hand to the eye from Ross Barkley. It's not remotely intentional, but seems to have caused a bit of damage to the Argentine as he's slow to get up. Once he does get to his feet, Mac Allister goes right to the official to complain that no booking was shown to the former Chelsea defender.

33rd min: Chance, Liverpool! Diogo Jota should score, but Thomas Kaminski makes his third excellent save of the afternoon! He's threaded in by Ryan Gravenberch, and as he goes to hit on the turn he comes close to slotting the ball inside the near post, but the Luton Town goalkeeper is positioned perfectly to cover the corner and he dives to his right to get his fingertips to the ball!

The best of the three from Kaminski so far to keep the game level! He's in fine form today, will he be beaten?

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24th min: Darwin Nunez continues to be active in front of net, but comes up empty again, heading over the crossbar on a cross from the right. He's causing consistent problems for the Luton Town back line but has struggled to cash in. He's struck the woodwork once and forced two good saves from the goalkeeper out of his five total shots thus far, so it feels like it's coming.

22nd min: Mohamed Salah is the latest Liverpool player to see the goal open up for him, but just as he goes to put his shot on frame, he's pressured by Teden Mengi, forcing the Egyptian to lash at his chance and send it high over the crossbar. Neither team has been particularly good in front of goal so far, but the chances are there.

16th min: Chance, Liverpool! Darwin Nunez reprises his earlier curler from atop the penalty area with nearly the exact same effort, and the goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski again does what's necessary, producing his own replication of his earlier save, diving to his left and parrying it away!

This energetic match has truly opened up into an end-to-end affair!

15th min: Chance, Luton Town! The hosts' first chance on net goes begging! An overhit cross deflects off a Liverpool defender's head and falls right to Issa Kabore unmarked at the far post, but as he rushed to get a shot in before the Reds' defence recovered, he whacks it well over the net!

13th min: Chance, Liverpool! Oh my, a trademark Trent Alexander-Arnold ball forward finds Darwin Nunez in stride, and he just has to beat the goalkeeper with his shot from just to the right of the penalty spot, but he whacks it off the upper edge of the crossbar!

It was a difficult chance, as he had to hit the ball at full speed while it was bouncing in stride, but you'd expect a striker of his quality to test the goalkeeper from there! What a missed opportunity!

8th min: Luton Town have matched Liverpool's energy so far, but they've found it difficult to match the quality, as you'd expect. They possess the ball in the attacking half for the first good spell of time on the ball, but it comes to nothing.

Liverpool break down the other end, and only an excellent tackle by Tom Lockyer atop his own penalty area stops the run of...Ibrahima Konate? Yep, the Liverpool defender was indeed the one to lead his own counter-attack!

5th min: Chance, Liverpool! Darwin Nunez, in great goalscoring form, has a hit from outside the penalty area, and his curling effort forces a very quality save from Thomas Kaminski! It's a curling shot that troubles the Luton goalkeeper a great deal, but he dives to his left and parries the shot away from danger.

3rd min: Liverpool are pummeling the Luton Town penalty area with a host of deep crosses, which are causing problems, but the hosts manage to clear the chances for now, awkwardly so.

Kickoff: The match is under way at Kenilworth Road! Liverpool can draw within one point of the Premier League leaders Man City with a win, while Luton Town can pull themselves out of the relegation zone with a landmark upset victory.

Luton Town vs Liverpool: Pre-match commentary, analysis, stats, and more

15 mins to kickoff: The teams are out for warmups as this match draws closer to kickoff!

30 mins to kickoff: Earning his first start for Luton Town is Andros Townsend, who signed in mid-October as a free agent and came off the bench in his first two appearances. The 32-year-old is back after tearing his ACL down the stretch of last season with Everton, finishing the year with three goals and two assists in 21 league appearances.

45 mins to kickoff: Luis Diaz is in the Liverpool squad for the first time since the news of his father's kidnapping came out. He makes the bench and could appear, as reports swirl of a possible imminent ending to the saga.

"All the signs he gets, as far as I understand, are very positive," Jurgen Klopp said before the match. "Negotiations are ongoing, but it’s still positive. That’s why he wanted to be part of the team."

1 hour to kickoff: Lineups are in, and it's indeed Ryan Gravenberch to take the final midfield place for Liverpool, as Curtis Jones misses out due to a knock. Joe Gomez is deployed at left-back in place of Kostas Tsimikas.

Andros Townsend earns his first start of the season for Luton Town after signing three weeks ago and appearing twice off the bench.

1 hour 15 mins to kick: Dutch midfielder Ryan Gravenberch could be the one to start alongside Alexis Mac Allister and Dominic Szoboszlai in the Liverpool lineup. Gravenberch only got minutes early this season in Cup competitions, but has transitioned to a regular Premier League player.

This was evident as Gravenberch wasn't started against Bournemouth in the League Cup a few days ago, meaning he's no longer a midweek starter, but is now a Premier League regular. That should be on full display today as he's likely to start.

1 hour 30 mins to kick: These two teams have a long history, but it's been a minute since they've matched up. Luton Town have beaten Liverpool six times in club history, but not since February 1991. They haven't met at all since January 2008, and two years before they played a legendary 5-3 match in which the Reds emerged victorious to advance in the third round of the FA Cup.

1 hour 45 mins to kick: Liverpool's midfield has been completely transformed from last season, and that's even with Thiago missing much of the season with an injury. Yet Jurgen Klopp will be constantly looking for reinforcements, and one player heavily linked with the Reds since the summer had a masterclass last night on the biggest of stages.

Andre Trindade of Brazilian club Fluminense put in a spectacular shift in last night's Copa Libertadores title as they secured the South American continental crown with a 2-1 extra-time victory. Playing the full 120 minutes, Andre was completed 69 of 73 passes, completed two tackles and both his attempted dribbles, won 8/10 ground duels, and made eight loose-ball recoveries. A complete performance.

2 hours to kickoff: Jurgen Klopp has brought along a host of young academy players into the first-team squad this season, some necessitated by injury and others as a reward for good performances in training and at the youth level.

Players like Jarell Quansah, Ben Doak, Calum Scanlon, Luke Chambers, and James McConnell have all seen time at the senior level across the multiple competitions this season.

The latest to join the first team in training is Trey Nyoni, a 16-year-old midfielder who joined the club's youth setup this past summer from Leicester City. It's unclear whether Nyoni will have a way into the first team just yet, but he's ineligible to play in the Europa League since he was not named to the competition squad, so maybe this match against a relegation threatened side could be his chance.

Luton Town vs Liverpool lineups & team news

Luton defender Reece Burke missed their 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa last Sunday with a hamstring injury.

Mads Andersen, Amari'i Bell, Jordan Clark, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Dan Potts were also out, but Gabriel Osho could make a second successive start following his full Premier League debut at Villa Park.

Luton Town starting lineup (3-5-2): Kaminski (GK) – Osho, Lockyer, Mengi — Kabore, Barkley, Nakamba, Townsend, Doughty — Morris, Ogbene.

Luton Town subs (9): Krul (GK), Adebayo, Chong, Mpanzu, Clark, Brown, Giles, Nelson, Luker.

Manager Jurgen Klopp expects midfielder Thiago Alcantara will be out until early 2024, which is also when Liverpool expect to have Andrew Robertson back following the full-back's shoulder surgery.

Stefan Bajcetic is training but not ready to return yet, and Klopp says Luis Diaz will decide whether to make himself available for selection, having taken a leave of absence following reports of his father's kidnapping in Colombia.

Liverpool starting lineup (4-3-3): Alisson (GK) — Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Gomez — Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch — Salah, Jota, Nunez.

Liverpool subs (9): Kelleher (GK), Tsimikas, Matip, Quansah, Endo, Elliott, Gakpo, Doak, Diaz.

How to watch Luton Town vs Liverpool

Here's how to watch this Premier League match across selected areas of the world's major regions:

Region TV Streaming
USA    USA Network, Telemundo Fubo, NBC Sports app/website,Telemundo Deportes En Vivo
Canada —

Fubo Canada

UK Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League Sky GO
Australia — Optus Sport
India Star Sports Select 1, Star Sports 3 Asia Hotstar VIP,
JioTV, Star Sports
Hong Kong Now Premier League 1 (Ch.620/621) Now TV
Malaysia Astro SuperSport 3 Astro Go, sooka
Singapore Hub Premier 1 StarHub TV+
New Zealand — Sky Sport NOW

Luton Town vs Liverpool betting odds & lines

  Luton
win		 Draw Liverpool
win		 Both teams
to score Y / N		 Over / Under
2.5 goals
DraftKings
(USA)		 +1000 +600 -425 -130 / +105 -275 / +210

Kyle Bonn

Kyle Bonn Photo

Kyle Bonn, is a Syracuse University broadcast journalism graduate with over a decade of experience covering soccer globally. Kyle specializes in soccer tactics and betting, with a degree in data analytics. Kyle also does TV broadcasts for Wake Forest soccer, and has had previous stops with NBC Soccer and IMG College. When not covering the game, he has long enjoyed loyalty to the New York Giants, Yankees, and Fulham. Kyle enjoys playing racquetball and video games when not watching or covering sports.