Crystal Palace meet Everton at Selhurst Park as both teams look to move closer towards Premier League survival.
Victory would see Palace stay 12th in the table but move level on points with 11th-placed Chelsea, whilst Everton can climb to 16th with a win if Leeds lose at Fulham in the lunchtime kick-off.
Team News
Palace have no fresh injury concerns to report following their win at Southampton last weekend.
Vicente Guaita (calf), Nathaniel Clyne (knee), Nathan Ferguson (fitness) and Wilfried Zaha (groin) both remain absent.
Everton could welcome Amadou Onana and Dominic Calvert-Lewin back from respective groin and hamstring injuries.
Ruben Vinagre (Achilles), Abdoulaye Doucoure (suspension), Seamus Coleman (hamstring) and Andros Townsend (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Palace host Everton at Selhurst Park at 3pm BST on Saturday 22 April, albeit untelevised in UK.
Stat Attack
- Palace have won one of their last five league meetings against Everton (W1, D1, L3).
- Everton are unbeaten in four of their last five visits to Palace (W1, D3, L1).
- Sean Dyche’s Toffees are looking to achieve the league double against Palace for the first time since 2004-05 season.
- Eberechi Eze has been involved in 10 league goals for Palace this season, having produced seven goals and three assists in 31 appearances.
- Everton are winless in six visits to London-based clubs this season (D3, L3).
Prediction
With safety all but mathematically assured following three wins in their last three games, Palace certainly can afford to just go for it in their remaining games because even finishing above Chelsea is somehow achievable now compared to just a month ago.
Palace though were defensively sluggish during the first-half of their win at Southampton but crucially improved in the second-half, coupled with two clinical goals after lacking the high intensity which comfortably blew Leeds apart a fortnight ago so I am excited about how they approach this game.
Everton meanwhile really needed to win at home against Fulham last weekend given the difficulty of their run-in – plus poor away form in London this season, yet they were undone by a lack of passionate attacking intensity and messy defensive marking with too much space out wide.
The latter aspect however is the biggest concern coming into this game given Palace’s expansive quality and pace out wide, yet the Eagles haven’t exactly been impressive in opening half of their last three games which is something which Everton must target if want any shot at a result.
I however just can’t see that happening if Palace turn up and can finally fire on all cylinders across 90 minutes rather than just after half-time, although Everton fans really do need to focus solely on motivating their players rather than vocal criticism.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 2-1 Everton
Result: Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton
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