Everton meet Crystal Palace at Goodison Park in a mid-table Premier League clash.
Victory would see Everton move four points clear of the relegation zone with many of their rivals not in action until Sunday (23 October).
Palace meanwhile could go eighth with a win if Brighton lose elsewhere.
Team News
Everton have no fresh injury concerns to report following their midweek defeat at Newcastle.
Nathan Patterson, Yerry Mina (both ankle), Ben Godfrey (fibula) and Andros Townsend (knee) remain absent.
Crystal Palace could welcome Will Hughes (illness) and Nathan Ferguson (foot) back into contention if pass fitness tests.
Jack Butland (hand), Nathaniel Clyne (ankle), Chris Richards (leg) and James McArthur (groin) all remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Everton have lost just one of their last 15 Premier League meetings against Crystal Palace (W7, D7, L1).
- Palace are winless in their last seven league visits to Everton (D3, L4).
- Everton have scored three goals in three of their last five home matches against Palace – winning 3-1 in February 2018 and February 2020 plus 3-2 in May 2022.
- Frank Lampard’s Toffees have picked up the first booking in four of their five home matches this season.
- Palace have won just once away from home in all competitions this season (W1, D3, L1), which came in a 2-0 victory in Second Round of EFL Cup at Oxford United.
Prediction
Following a lacklustre midweek performance at Newcastle with limited attacking opportunities, Everton certainly need to bounce back with a more positive performance, although Lampard should take heart from his team’s defensive effort to limit their loss to a single goal.
If there is one criticism of their midweek display, it has to be their poor marking in and around the box because they still allowed too much space, even when defending tightly which led to scrappy blocks so I would like to see them show more solidness at the back in tight defensive situations.
Palace meanwhile fought back against Wolves to win their second consecutive home match from behind but they were often very wasteful, so I would say that they were pretty lucky to clinically punish Wolves’ defensive slip in the second-half albeit with late great saves by Vincente Guaita.
Goodison Park in recent seasons though has been a bogey ground for Palace but if they can get on the front foot and play with control, I can see Everton facing another tricky encounter but the Toffees should be able to at least scrape a draw here.
Prediction: Everton 1-1 Crystal Palace
Result: Everton 3-0 Crystal Palace
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