Venue: Goodison Park
Date: 21/09/2014
Kick-off: 16:00(BST)
Match
Everton prepare to welcome Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Sunday and following the Toffees’ fine victories over West Bromwich Albion and VfL Wolfsburg over the weekend, Roberto Martinez’s men will certainly be heading into the game against the Eagles riding high on confidence.
While Everton did stutter a bit at the start of the campaign, things seem to be falling into place nicely for the Toffees and Martinez will now surely be looking for his side to get a bit of momentum going in the Premier League during the next few weeks.
However, with nemesis Palace set to pay a visit on Sunday – it will be anything but straight forward for Everton on the day. The Eagles proved to be a bit of a bogey team for the Toffees last season after they took four points off of the them and virtually ended Everton’s hopes of finishing in the top four by inflicting a 3-2 defeat in the corresponding fixture at Goodison Park.
As a result, one can be sure that Martinez will not take the game on Sunday lightly and will be sure to not allow complacency to creep into his players.
Everton Team News
Everton are still without the services of Ross Barkley, Arouna Kone, Bryan Oviedo and Steven Pienaar for the clash while the duo of Seamus Coleman and Tony Hibbert are also doubts due to slight knocks.
Veteran Sylvain Distin is back in contention though after missing out the last two matches with a leg injury but will surely have a tough time in dislodging young John Stones from the starting eleven.
Tim Howard is a certainty to start in goal and the defence ahead of him should consist of Leighton Baines, John Stones, Phil Jagielka and Seamus Coleman. If indeed Coleman does not recover in time for the clash, expect Stones to move in at right back with Distin coming back in to fold in central defence.
The midfield should also remain unchanged with the duo of Gareth Barry and James McCarthy starting at the middle of the park despite the return of Darron Gibson from injury.
The impressive Kevin Mirallas and Aiden McGeady look set to be deployed on the wings once again while Steven Naismith will be providing support to the lone striker Romelu Lukaku in attack. That being said, Samuel Eto’o is also in contention to start after his impressive cameo in midweek.
Probable Lineups
Everton (Probable XI): Howard; Baines, Stones, Jagielka, Coleman; Mirallas, Barry, Naismith, McCarthy, McGeady; Lukaku
Crystal Palace (Probable XI): Speroni; Ward, Delaney, Dann, Mariappa; Bolasie, McArthur, Jedinak, Puncheon, Zaha; Gayle
Form
Everton: D D L W W
Crystal Palace: L L W D D
Last Meeting
17/04/2014 Everton 2 – 3 Crystal Palace
09/11/2013 Crystal Palace 0 – 0 Everton
Prediction
Everton head into the game in better form than Palace and are in many people’s eyes favourite to claim victory. However, Neil Warnock has done a decent job at Palace so far and will undoubtedly make it tough for the hosts on the day.
Palace are a very tough side to break down so Everton cannot be wasteful on the ball and Romelu Lukaku, who was poor in midweek, will certainly need to play a big part in breaching the tough Eagles’ defence.
Palace are quick on the counter as well due to the presence of players such as Dwight Gayle, Yannick Bolasie, Wilfried Zaha and Jason Puncheon among others and the Everton defence will need to be wary in defence.
While the match will surely not be an easy encounter for Everton, they possess more quality than Palace overall and should be able to claim a victory on the day.
Everton 2 – 0 Crystal Palace
