Crystal Palace heap more pressure on Rafael Benítez and Everton

Crystal Palace 3 Everton 1

Conor Gallagher wasn’t even born when Crystal Palace last managed to beat Everton at home in the Premier League victory but a scintillating performance from the England midfielder finally ended that sequence despite a late fightback from Rafael Benítez’s side.

Such is Gallagher’s influence on the club he joined from Chelsea on a season-long loan that he has now been involved in almost half of all Palace’s goals so far this season, with six goals and three assists.. His superb second strike of the afternoon, in injury time, almost lifted the roof off Selhurst Park as Patrick Vieira’s side ended a run of three successive defeats in style. How Everton must wish they had a player like him in their ranks.

With Lucas Digne again omitted from the matchday squad after Benitez had warned that the France defender had to “realise the priority has to be the team”, Everton started with Ben Godfrey at left-back once again and recalled Mason Holgate, Fabian Delph and midfielder André Gomes for his first league start of the season. The spirited second-half comeback against Arsenal on Monday may have eased some of the pressure on their manager but Benitez will have known that relinquishing a record that has stood since Andy Preece scored the only goal of the game here in October 1994 would certainly not help his cause.

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Palace had managed only six goals in 10 home matches against these opponents since then, having last beaten Everton in 2014 twice in the space of five months at Goodison Park. In the continued absence of co-captain James McArthur, Vieira gave Will Hughes his full league debut in midfield, handed the armband to the returning Joel Ward and opted for Odsonne Édouard over Christian Benteke up front.

Jordan Ayew’s 43-game wait for a Premier League goal is another unwanted statistic Vieira would definitely prefer the Ghana forward to put behind him, and that drought should have been ended in the seventh minute when he was played in by Édouard. Not for the last time, Jordan Pickford came to Everton’s rescue.

A twisting run by Gallagher ending with a left-footed shot that dipped just over the bar was a portent of what was to come, before Pickford beat away Wilfried Zaha’s effort at the near post. Zaha and Fabian Delph were both perhaps fortunate to escape yellow cards after clashing midway through the half, although Everton appeared to have survived the initial storm by then.

Demarai Gray’s shot from distance that was easily gathered by Vicente Guaita was at least a sign of intent. A sweetly-stuck volley from Gomes after Godfrey had made a rare foray forward could easily have broken the deadlock but instead it went straight at the Palace goalkeeper.

With Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise watching on from the bench, the hosts relied on Gallagher’s seemingly endless energy to take them up the pitch and the Chelsea loanee has also developed a penchant for scoring goals in south London. His fifth of the campaign arrived five minutes before the break when Everton failed to clear and Ayew showed great coolness to allow Gallagher to sweep the ball past Pickford.

Everton’s players were sent out early for the second half presumably hoping for a repeat of their performance against Arsenal. But it was Palace who resumed control, with Gallagher going close to his second of the afternoon when he nodded Zaha’s cross just wide. A stunning piece of control that saw the 21-year-old instantly bring down a long pass to almost set up Zaha simply took the breath away, although Gallagher was unable to direct his next effort on target after another lung-bursting run into the box.

Benitez’s response was to withdraw Fabian Delph and Richarlison, who had somehow managed only 10 touches in 57 minutes of action. The Brazilian left the pitch shaking his head and continued to sulk as he took his seat in the dugout, with the away supporters making their displeasure clearly heard.

Their misery was complete five minutes later when a corner from Hughes found Tomkins unmarked at the back post and the centre-back gleefully rammed the ball in after taking a touch.

Yet rather than just roll over, from somewhere Everton suddenly found their fighting spirit. A Gray free kick went just over the bar before Salomón Rondón bundled home when Abdoulaye Doucouré’s effort deflected off Ward to deceive Guaita. Another error from Ward almost gifted them an equaliser soon after but a heroic block from Jeffrey Schlupp denied Andros Townsend a goal against his former club.

Despite their struggles, Everton had already picked up more points from losing positions than any other side in the league this campaign and their opportunity to complete another comeback came when Anthony Gordon found himself in acres of space and bearing down on Guaita’s goal. But the Spaniard was equal to his shot and Palace gratefully hacked clear, with Gallagher making sure he had the final say in injury time. - Guardian