Crystal Palace vs Everton 22/23

Hi everyone,

Hope you’re all well.

On Saturday 22nd April 2023, Crystal Palace hosted Everton at Selhurst park. It was a 3pm kick off on a fairly nice day, just a shame the Main Stand had its back to the sun so we had no warmth!

Despite Palace’s recent run of good form both sides still have the possibility of being relegated, Everton were in far more danger coming into the game 17th in the premier league, level points with Nottingham Forest on 27 and just 4 points off bottom place Southampton.

Everton lost their last two fixtures against Fulham and Manchester united, although in the previous match weeks held Chelsea and Tottenham to draws, proving they do have attacking potential.

Crystal Palace came into the game in fine form having won all three games under Roy Hodgson so far convincingly, and should have high confidence!

Roy Hodgson once again selected an unchanged line up since his return back, the confidence he has in the players has paid off so far!

The 10-men of Everton managed to hold Crystal Palace to a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park.

In a scrappy first half few chances were created. It was the away side who started on the front foot with Sam Johnstone being called to action to stop Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s early shots.

One of Palace’s only clear chances of the half came as Jordan Ayew was unable to direct the ball from Michael Olise’s free kick anywhere but over the bar from 12 yards out.

Jeffery Schlupp was also unable to direct the ball towards goal after receiving a floating pass from Ayew, the rebound was met by Tyrick Mitchell whose shot from just inside the box flew well over the bar.

The 28th minute was marked with an applause in memory of a lifelong supporter, Liam Foley, who sadly passed away following the Leicester City game.

Both keepers had to keep switched on as the game was end-to-end. Using his pace to get passed his man, Vitalii Mykolenko, Olise drove inside before going for goal ending in a simple save for Jordan Pickford. Johnstone reacted well to block a good volley by Alex Iwobi from outside the box.

Everton had a strong spell putting Palace under pressure, but like the home side lacked the dangerous final ball; Palace often didn’t help themselves by failing to clear the danger.

Shortly after the break Palace did appear to be ahead, the player to make the short lived breakthrough was none other than Ebere Eze. A long ball up field from Marc Guehi found the in-form midfielder in space through the centre, taking the ball in his stride Eze lopped the keeper to meet the back of the net - only to be denied by the raised flag on the far side.

A similar long ball from Schlupp was in the path of Olise, but this time Pickford was quick to react and knock the ball out of reach of the approaching French winger.

Whilst clearing the ball the keeper started his team on a counter attack. A common theme in the game appeared once again as Palace failed to clear their lines effectively giving the ball straight to Iwobi who slid Calvert-Lewin in towards goal, and on the half turn between the two centre halves put his shot just wide of the post; a chance they must be scoring if they want a chance of staying up.

Palace hunted for the opener loading pressure on the visitors who remained resilient, a 25-yard strike from Eze was heading for the bottom corner, but was instead pushed around the bar by a stretching Pickford.

10 minutes from the end of the match Everton defender Mason Holgate was awarded his second yellow card after repeatedly struggling to handle Ayew and mistiming his tackles.

Despite having the extra man, chances still lacked for the home side. After countless corners and shots over the bar, the closest chance came from a low effort by Eze which just needed tapping in but instead was held onto by Pickford, seeing the game end 0-0 and delay the chances of guaranteed safety for the Eagles another week, also denying Everton the chance of escaping the bottom three.

By far not the greatest performance we’ve seen in recent weeks, they seemed to fall back into their old habits and didn’t have the same motivation or hunger they’ve had in recent games and Everton looked stronger for the most part. It felt as though they were trying to walk the ball into the net too much rather than just having a shot … although most of the shots they did have went over the bar. Credit to Everton who managed to keep Eze quiet in the midfield and allow him minimal touches – apart from his offside goal. The referee was once again diabolical making far too many decisions in Everton’s favour and dismissing blatant fouls on palace. On a more positive note Sam Johnstone had a great game, Ayew looked good on the ball and another clean sheet for the defenders.

Palace’s next game I’m attending is West Ham back at Selhurst Park on Saturday, but I am going to see the under 23’s in action on Friday against Blackburn so look out for that post!

Thank you for reading

Ellie Xx