Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton
Crystal Palace played out an opening day 0-0 draw with Everton despite the Toffees finishing the game with 10 men.
Marco Silva’s Everton are one of a clutch of sides hoping to break into the Premier League top six this season, and they’ll need to find a sharper cutting edge than they had today. But Roy Hodgson may be the more disappointed of the two coaches as his side had the numerical advantage at the end.
After flirting with the drop for a few seasons the Eagles will be keen to avoid another relegation battle this term. The three newly promoted teams will all find it tough, but unless Palace can improve their home form, so will they.
Highlights of the game
The deadline-day tussle between Everton and Palace for the Eagles’ talisman Wilfried Zaha made this a difficult week for the hosts, and they started with their most gifted player on the bench. And so it was little surprise that Everton showed first, and should really have gone ahead on three minutes.
After Lucas Digne found space on the left he put the ball in the danger area and into the path of Gylfi Sigurdsson, but the Iceland star screwed his shot wide from 10 yards. The visitors continued to have the better of the opening exchanges, but the final ball was all too often sloppy for the Toffees.
Richarlison made a promising start for Everton last season, and the Brazilian striker came close to breaking the deadlock, meeting a low corner from Sigurdsson. Unfortunately for him, Christian Benteke managed to block his effort with his head.
As Everton continued to press, Vicente Guaita made a superb save to deny Everton captain Seamus Coleman after more good work from Digne.
The Eagles eventually began to get into their stride, and when Andros Townsend worked the ball out to Max Meyer, his shot was deflected over the bar by Coleman. A crunching tackle by James McArthur on Andre Gomes then forced Silva into a change as the Portuguese midfielder couldn’t go on.
That seemed to add a little spice to the match, and there was a flurry of bookings early in the second half. Meanwhile, Palace began the half as they finished the first. Meyer brought a good save out of Everton keeper Jordan Pickford at his near post.
Richarlison had been relatively quiet, but he came to life midway through the second half. He forced Guaita into a smart save with a low shot from the edge of the penalty area, and minutes later, he curled one wide when he really should have hit the target.
Hodgson reacted and threw on his wantaway star Zaha, and the winger immediately began to stretch the Toffees defence. And then on 75 minutes, the visitors were down to 10 men.
Morgan Schneiderlin, one of the players booked earlier, put in a high challenge on Palace skipper Luka Milivojevic, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to brandish a red card.
Zaha began to torment the Everton defence but couldn’t find the killer pass or shot, and four added minutes wasn’t enough for him to break the deadlock.
Key statistics
The pre-match Crystal Palace vs Everton betting tips pointed to a hard-fought tussle, and so it was. It was bad-tempered at times, but it was a fair result in the end.
The Toffees are now unbeaten in the past 10 league meetings between these two sides; the last time Palace won the fixture on home soil was back in 1994.
In fact, the Eagles have never won an opening day Premier League fixture at home, losing the last four, so this was a step in the right direction. But they need to find their home form soon; only relegated Huddersfield won fewer points at home last season.
Mind you, the Toffees have only won two openers in 12, so perhaps this result was on the cards. And they have drawn 12 Premier League opening fixtures, more than any other side.
What’s next?
The Eagles are away to newly promoted Sheffield United next, and in the following week head to the Theatre of Dreams to take on big-spending Manchester United.
The Toffees are at home to Watford next and then away to Aston Villa, who themselves have splashed well over £100m on their return to the top flight.
Villans head coach Dean Smith has said they aren’t about to ‘do a Fulham’ after the Cottagers were relegated following a similar spree last season.
Keep an eye out for our SBOBET tips; they will be coming thick and fast as the early Premier League 2019 results continue to roll in.
For the time being, both Palace and Everton are off the mark, but both will expect more.
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