Teams are supposed to win at home. But for teams as bad as Crystal Palace, even draws will do against good teams like Everton and that's exactly what they got on Saturday as the Eagles held off the Toffees for a 0-0 draw to pick up a valuable point as they try to avoid relegation.
Crystal Palace vs. Everton: Final score 0-0, Eagles snatch a vital point
Everton were dominant, but that wasn’t enough to win.
Bryn Lennon
Everton had all of the ball, finishing with 73% of the possession, but they struggled to turn that into chances, especially early on. Their final ball was dreadful, and seemingly every time they got into the final third, they gave the ball away. In fact, for stretches in the first half, Palace were getting the better looks at goal and had Marouane Chamakh been better, he would have buried one of his free headers to put the home side in front.
In the second half, the Toffees finally began to sort things out and began to create chances from all that time on the ball. Romelu Lukaku gave the Palace defense fits and the introduction of Gerard Deulofeu only put more pressure on the home side. It looked like Everton would go in front when Phil Jagielka rose high to meet a cross, but his header rattled the crossbar and Sylvain Distin's follow attempt at the open goal went wide.
Despite their dominance, Everton just couldn’t find the goal. Their shots missed their mark by inches on multiple occasions and the result was a disappointing point, while Palace were thrilled to have walked away with their draw, even at home.
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Ward, Gabbidon, Moxey, Delaney, Dikgacoi (O’Keefe 45’), Jedinak, Bannan, Bolasie, Thomas (Puncheon 85’), Chamakh (Jerome 63’).
Everton: Howard, Baines, Jagielka, Distin, Coleman, Mirallas (Deulofeu), McCarthy, Barry, Osman (Barkley 56’), Pienaar, Lukaku.
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