Everton welcome Crystal Palace to Goodison Park in a must-win match in the fight against relegation.
Victory would see Everton stay 16th but guarantee survival whilst Palace can go ninth with a win if Leicester lose at Chelsea.
Team News
Michael Keane could return for Everton after he missed Sunday’s defeat against Brentford due to illness.
Ben Godfrey (thigh) and Donny van de Beek (groin) are set to return but Jarrad Branthwaite and Salomon Rondon are both suspended, after the pair were red carded against Brentford.
Yerry Mina (calf), Fabian Delph (muscle), Nathan Patterson (ankle) and Andros Townsend (knee) remain absent.
Crystal Palace could again be without James Tomkins after a muscle injury forced him to sit out Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Aston Villa.
Michael Olise (foot) also was absent at the weekend and he too remains a doubt but James McArthur (calf) and Nathan Ferguson (hamstring) both remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Everton have lost just one of their last 14 league meetings against Crystal Palace (W6, D7, L1).
- Crystal Palace are winless in their last six visits to Goodison Park (D3, L3), in which each of those three draws finished in 1-1 results.
- None of four goalless draws between Everton and Palace in the Premier League have taken place at Goodison Park.
- No Everton player has been involved in more Premier League goals this season than Richarlison, as the Brazilian netted nine goals and created five assists for his teammates.
- Conor Gallagher has completed more dead ball passes than any other Palace player this season – having produced 21 dead ball passes in 32 league appearances.
Prediction
Having missed a huge opportunity to guarantee survival on Sunday against Brentford following a mixture of defensive and disciplinary errors, Everton now need to take the positives from their improved attacking quality and deliver a huge performance to avoid final-day drama.
Should they indeed lose here then I really do fear for Everton’s survival chances at Arsenal on the final day, especially given that Leeds and Burnley have fairly easier opposition, which could mean relegation for the Toffees if Leeds and Burnley both win.
Palace meanwhile don’t have anything major to play for coming into their last two matches but a top-ten finish is still a decent possibility, which I reckon Patrick Vieira will thrive for to finish his first season in charge of the Eagles on a high.
Focusing solely on this game though, I would like to see Palace show more urgency in their attacking across the entire 90 minutes than what was on show at Aston Villa, despite having played well overall with patience and pace.
Everton though seem to relish this league fixture given their form against Palace but have comfortably lost twice in two meetings this season across all competitions, which is surely a slight psychological concern but one which can motivate them although Palace will certainly make life difficult defensively.
Prediction: Everton 1-1 Crystal Palace
Result: Everton 3-2 Crystal Palace
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