Dyche and Everton desperately need three points against Eagles this weekend

For Everton too the match at Goodison Park in 48 hours time, is a crucial moment in a season that has seen such a dreadful start.

After four consecutive defeats - including a bizarre and infuriating collapse at home to Bournemouth followed by surrendering another two-goal lead at Aston Villa - the Blues finally claimed their first point at Leicester City last weekend.

That draw also saw the visitors again give up an early lead, which they had after dominating the opening period of the game.

Everton once more squandered several great chances at the Kingpower Stadium and really should have been at least two goals ahead before the Foxes recovered.

It is of course hugely ironic that so far this term Everton have been much more threatening going forward than last season, but have lost the defensive resilience which characterized most of the previous campaign.

So while the Blues have netted five times in their opening four matches - as opposed to last season when they only managed two goals - they have conceded thirteen times already. But still, too many chances are going begging yet again.

To be fair, there are some eerie similarities between this campaign and last season with the Toffees losing their first two home matches and going down 4-0 away at Villa and Tottenham respectively in their second game.

What turned things around last term - at least in terms of those defensive qualities, which became the side's hallmark - was the emergence of Jarrad Branthwaite and his coming into the team after the Villa match with Micheal Keane dropping out.

Branthwaite's absence so far this season, together with injuries to both the full-backs Nathan Patterson and Vitalii Mykolenko, has left Everton looking much more vulnerable at the back.

Both Branthwaite and Patterson played in a recent Blues youth team fixture giving some hope that they might be available for the Palace game.

The other reason I think why Everton have been that much more porus in defence is the departure of Amadou Onana.

Probably many supporters were not too sad when the Belgian midfielder joined Villa in the summer and the Toffees got a decent amount of money for a player who had not really lit up Goodison, despite his physical qualities and talent.

However, although the young midfielder Tim Iroegbunam - who came the other way earlier in the transfer window - has done well enough, he is still young and inexperienced.

He alongside James Garner, 35-year-old Idrissa Gueye and also Dwight McNeil - who has recently moved into a moe central position - have not been consistently competitive or dominant enough in the centre of the park, which is particularly a problem with a weakened defence behind them.

Everton host Palace and then Newcastle United in their next two matches and if they could find a way to get at least four points from these games before the next international break, that would take some pressure off the team, and the manager.

Because of course Dyche is under very close scrutiny given another horrendous start to the season and more citicism of his defensive tactics and in-game changes.

Again at Leicester he made the decision to take off Iliman Ndiaye - the Toffees scorer and best player who had offered a dynamic and constant attacking threat - presumably in a doomed attempt to try and hold onto a one-goal lead.

With a new owner about to take over (assuming nothing goes wrong this time!) and one who has a track record of making sudden decisions with no qualms about sacking his coaches - at least if his Roma ownership is an accurate guide - then Dyche could be facing the axe very soon.

Defeat on Saturday would be disastrous for him and the team and surely could provoke Friedkin to make a change in manager as soon as he takes over - or possibly even sooner - especially with an international break coming up.