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Everton v Crystal Palace preview: Blues to carry on winning form

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 10: Theo Walcott of Everton congratulates teammate Wayne Rooney after the Premier League match between Everton and Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on February 10, 2018 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 10: Theo Walcott of Everton congratulates teammate Wayne Rooney after the Premier League match between Everton and Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on February 10, 2018 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images) /
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The Premier League returns this weekend and Everton take on Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Can Everton continue their winning run and take all three points on Sunday?

The Blues return to domestic action on the back of two fine wins over Fulham and Leicester City respectively.

It’s important Everton try to maintain this mini run and build some real momentum in their season. Especially as there are some tougher upcoming fixtures on the horizon.

The Toffees take on Manchester United the following Sunday, then after a home game against Brighton comes a trip to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea.

So another win against Palace would set Everton up nicely for that trip to Old Trafford.

As for the Londoners they have had a stop-start and inconsistent season. At times looking comfortable and in other games not so good.

Just like last time round Wilfried Zaha is proving to be crucial to their team. When he plays Palace always have a chance. So rumours about him picking up an injury while on international duty will be worrying for boss Roy Hodgson.

Even with their talismanic Ivory Coast winger, Palace have struggled to score goals over the course of the season so far. In their Premier League matches they’ve only managed 5 goals. And Zaha has got three of them.

It will be an obvious boost for the Blues if Zaha is unable to take to the pitch on Sunday afternoon.

However although Palace don’t score a lot of goals they’ve also been pretty solid defensively. And they’ve kept 3 clean sheets so far, something Everton have managed only once all season.

As for the home team there are still injury issues to contend with but things are looking up there with the possibility even that Everton fans might finally get a glimpse of Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes very soon!

However as yet there’s still no certainty about when they will be able to make their long-awaited debuts in a royal blue shirt.

I would hope and expect Marco Silva to continue with the same side as played at Leicester although there were reports Idrissa Gueye might have picked up a knock playing for Senegal.

And I also think playing Richarlison further forward, as we’ve advocated, makes sense giving fellow Brazil star Bernard another 90 minutes to continue his return to full match fitness.

The prospect of these two developing a really good understanding together should make Evertonians very excited. If Bernard can maintain the kind of form he showed at the King Power stadium he could turn out to be the bargain of the summer.

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The Blues have plenty of pace and power now and are a lot more potent a goal threat than there were last term. Bernard will offer a subtlety and creative spark that gives the team another attacking dimension.

Defensively too Everton have been better recently and that is largely down to simply having a settled back line. Kurt Zouma and Michael Keane have developed a decent understanding at centre-half and Lucas Digne has been excellent at left-back.

Overall then plenty for Everton fans to feel good about as the Premier League returns. I expect the Toffees to win what will probably be a tight, low-scoring match.