After Brighton draw Everton need another away day performance at Palace

Everton face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday needing a strong response after ultimately failing to hold onto their one goal lead against Brighton last weekend.

Although a point against a Seagulls side that has established itself as a genuine top-six contender in the last two seasons, would have seemed a reasonable outcome before the game, it was very frustrating for the Blues to concede so late on.

And the manner of the goal was even more irritating, meaning that Everton had dropped two more points at home.

Had the Toffees won, then I would be considering a point at Palace a satisfactory outcome this weekend, while obviously wanting more.

But now I think the Blues really need another of those strong away performances and a win, something that we have seen quite often from Sean Dyche’s men on their travels.

As we all know for a while now Everton’s form away from Merseyside has been considerably better than when they have hosted opponents at Goodison.

The Toffees have already triumphed at Brentford, Aston Villa (in the Carabao Cup) and West Ham United as well as getting a point at Sheffield United earlier on.

However, so far this season the team has still only registered a solitary home victory over Bournemouth, with last Saturday’s draw representing the only other time the Blues have taken any points at home.

We all know why Everton are so much more effective on their travels.

Dyche’s tactics and attitude suits a disciplined, defensive, counter-attacking approach rather than playing on the front foot as would normally be expected at home.

So, a trip to South London should promote a bit more confidence that the Toffees can repeat the trick once again, especially as their hosts have only won one of the last seventeen of these encounters.

However, Palace are managed by a very experienced and canny coach In Roy Hodgson who like his opposite number on Saturday, sets them up to be hard to beat and well organised too.

The Eagles sit comfortably mid-table and that’s almost certainly where they will finish the campaign. I think most Evertonians would take that kind of mediocre predictability in a heartbeat!

Palace don’t normally score or concede too many goals (particularly at home) although they have taken a hammering from a few sides this season.

Their biggest threat is former Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard a player once linked with a move to the Blues.

Looking at it then on paper and considering how few goals either team manages, I doubt this match will be a classic for the neutral and a 0-0 draw is probably the most likely outcome you would plump for if you were betting on it.

Everton manager Dyche has, apart from a few minor knocks to players, pretty much a full-strength squad to pick from, other than long-term injured pair Dele Alli and Andre Gomes neither of whom are critical to him.

Meanwhile, Seamus Coleman, who played sixty minutes for the Under-21s this week, is inching towards full fitness but probably won’t be ready for Palace.

The only significant doubt amongst his first-choice players was Amadou Onana who had to be replaced against Brighton. Dyche said in his pre-match presser that he reckons Onana is in contention to play.

I imagine then that we will see some variant of the 4-5-1 formation that Dyche has generally used, perhaps with a tweak or two who knows.

Given the Toffees away form this fixture is very much one that you could argue is certainly a  winnable one so let’s hope for another away day three points.