Everton Claim First Three Points Of The Season
- Spirit of The News
- Sep 28, 2024
- 3 min read
A brace from Dwight McNeil in the second half was enough as the Toffees came back against Crystal Palace.
A huge boost for Everton in the lead-up to the game would come extremely handy as Jarrad Branthwaite, Vitalli Mykolenko, Nathan Patterson, and Idrissa Gana Gueye were all in the matchday squad, with both Branthwaite and Mykolenko selected straight back into the starting 11.
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner made one change for his side to face the Blues away from home as defender Chris Richards was replaced by Colombian international Jefferson Lerma. Other than that, it was a strong Palace side.
Lineups:
Everton:
Pickford
Mykolenko
Tarkowski
Branthwaite
Young
Doucoure
Mangala
Lindstrøm
McNeil
Ndiaye
Calvert-Lewin
Crystal Palace:
Henderson
Lerma
Guehi
Lacroix
Mitchell
Kamada
Wharton
Muñoz
Eze
Mateta
Nketiah
For both teams, this was a huge opportunity to pick up some points to begin their season, as Everton and Crystal Palace had not picked up a win this season.
It looked extremely promising for Palace; however, it didn’t take long for the Eagles to strike first. A scrappy situation within Jordan Pickford’s penalty area meant Marc Guehi only needed a slight touch on the ball for it to go into the English goalkeeper’s net, and it did so.
Marc Guehi Crystal Palace Stats:
Appearances: 119
Goals: 6
Assists: 2
Yellow Cards: 15
Red Cards: 0
This ultimately created a deflated Goodison Park, with many Evertonians left wondering, Will they ever see their team win?
A couple half chances later, with no real importance, the referee blew for halftime with the Everton team booed off the pitch in frustration of the disappointing performance.
However, at halftime, a motivational speech by Seamus Coleman was presented to the players, as Ashley Young stated that the “whole stadium heard him” as Everton came out a completely different side. Combined with the support from the crowd, the Blues were able to turn it around!
Almost imediately after the whistle was blown to commence the second half, Everton winger Dwight McNeil picked up the ball outside the box, cutting in on his left foot, and pinpointing an absolute beauty of a strike into the top left corner, flying past Dean Henderson in goal, who was fully stretched, in front of the Gwladys Street, simply remarkable.
Dwight McNeil Everton Stats:
Appearances: 87
Goals: 12
Assists: 12
Yellow Cards: 8
Red Cards: 0
This sparked a cacophony that dispersed across Goodison Park, as it was now looking likely that the Toffees would be the causes of a comeback and not the victims of one.
Seven minutes later, a long ball by Jordan Pickford over to Jack Harrison spinning and bringing the ball down with precision zipped one across the face of goal, falling into the path of McNeil again, who controlled the ball and struck it low into the net for the second time this game. Pure joy around Goodison.
It was evident to see nerves were kicking up towards the conclusion of the match, with Abdoulaye Doucoure unfortunately fumbling a one versus one due to the Palace defence being able to track back before he got a shot away to possibly kill the game off. There were warning signs that perhaps Crystal Palace could emerge a late leveller. However, the Toffees seemed a lot more comfortable than similar situations in the past, such as Bournemouth’s late comeback.
When the four additional times were up but the referee had not blown for full time yet, whistles and screams came from the stands, attempting to make the official conclude the game. As the ball went out for a goal kick for Everton, a collective sigh of relief was let out, and the game ended 2-1 to the Toffees!
Premier League Gameweek 6:
Saturday 28th September:
Newcastle 1-1 Manchester City
Arsenal 4-2 Leicester
Brentford 1-1 West Ham
Chelsea 4-2 Brighton
Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest 0-1 Fulham
Wolves 1-2 Liverpool
Sunday 29th September:
Ipswich 14:00 Aston Villa
Manchester United 16:30 Spurs
Monday 30th September:
Bournemouth 20:00 Southampton
