As Premier League spectacles go, Gareth Southgate could easily have picked a more entertaining way to spend his Saturday afternoon. With the England manager back on his old stamping ground to watch his former club attempt to record a fourth successive victory since his predecessor’s return, a stubborn defensive performance from 10-man Everton was enough to earn Sean Dyche’s side a point that could prove to be extremely valuable.
While it was not enough to stop them from dropping into the bottom three after Leicester’s win over Wolves, even more heartening for Dyche after his side survived Mason Holgate’s red card 10 minutes from time will have been the sight of Dominic Calvert-Lewin lasting until the 90th minute before being substituted. The England striker could not take a golden opportunity to secure only Everton’s second away win of the campaign but at least provided a fulcrum in attack that has been sorely missing all season.
“I’m really pleased – he played for more than I thought but it had that kind of weird feel to the game where you thought ‘something might drop here’ so we left him on and took a bit of a risk but he is fine,” said Dyche, whose side remain the division’s lowest scorers with just 24. “The most important table is the one at the end of the season.”
The manager had insisted before Everton’s trip to south London that a 1-0 defeat to National League North side Chester in a behind-closed-doors game on Tuesday was no reason for alarm after Calvert-Lewin came through unscathed on his return from injury. While the England striker laboured at times here on his first start since the beginning of February, he showed his quality with a brilliant turn to set up his chance just after the hour mark, only to poke his shot agonisingly wide of the target.
Defeat would have been harsh on Palace, who dominated the game but were left frustrated by a lack of cutting edge having scored 11 goals in their previous three matches. “We have been spoiled with so many goals over the last few weeks and it just didn’t happen for us today,” admitted Roy Hodgson.
Palace seemed in the mood again here when Jordan Ayew’s cross just eluded Odsonne Édouard inside the first 30 seconds. Having now picked up 10 points on their travels, only Nottingham Forest have a worse away record than Everton this season but Dyche will have been encouraged by an early attack that saw Calvert-Lewin’s header comfortably saved by Sam Johnstone.
The outstanding Michael Olise is still eligible to play for England despite having opted to represent France’s under-21 side and Southgate would have admired his precise free-kick that was headed over by Ayew. A brilliant pass from Marc Guéhi from deep in his own half that Eberechi Eze just failed to control when he was through on goal must also have caught the England manager’s eye.
Olise thought he was denied a penalty after being brought down by Vitalii Mykolenko when referee, John Brooks, waved away his appeals. It was Alex Iwobi who came closest to breaking the deadlock just after the half-hour mark when his powerful volley was expertly saved by Johnstone.
With Palace lacking the intensity they have shown since Hodgson’s return, however, Dyche must have sensed there was a chance for Everton and they made a positive start to the second half before Eze had a goal chalked off for offside following another defence-splitting pass from Guéhi.
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The moment Calvert-Lewin had been waiting for was straight from the Dyche playbook following a punt downfield from Jordan Pickford. The Everton striker’s frustration after missing his chance was evident when he was finally shown a yellow card for pulling back Guéhi moments later.
A curling Eze shot that seemed destined for the corner was well saved by Pickford as Palace pushed forward in search of a winner. Their cause was aided when Holgate was shown a second yellow card 10 minutes from time for bringing down Ayew for a second time but, to Dyche’s relief, Everton’s defence held firm to record a first clean sheet in six matches.
