This was the Eberechi Eze show. He scored one penalty, was booked for diving in search of another and might have been further punished for a couple of fouls. His dazzling display also prompted the half-time change that inadvertently won this match for Everton.
Such was the danger of Eze, who danced through the Everton midfield at ease, Sean Dyche needed to act and sent on Idrissa Gana Gueye to thwart him. Little did he know that Gueye would later imitate Eze in waltzing through Palace’s defenders to score a late winner.
This was just Gueye’s fourth goal in 153 Everton appearances across two stints, and it sealed a hard-earned away win to take the Toffees eight points clear of the drop zone. They took the lead three times in what Dyche described as a ‘topsy-turvy’ game that could have gone either way.
Vitalii Mykolenko put Everton ahead after just 56 seconds but Eze soon equalised from the spot. Abdoulaye Doucoure then reinstated Everton’s lead not long after the break but Odsonne Edouard cancelled that out, before Gueye’s last-gasp winner with a rare foray forward.
‘Our away form was a big question mark when I got here but we’re beginning to change the mentality in these games,’ said Dyche. ‘The work ethic is growing all the time. It brings out the truth of the side… you’re beginning to see that, the Evertonians are.’
Idrissa Gueye scored Everton’s eventual winner in a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday
Gueye (left) popped up late to score in the 86th minute for Everton against Palace
Vitaliy Mykolenko and Abdoulaye Doucoure both celebrated goals in the thrilling encounter
And Dyche is right. The former Burnley boss has steered Everton around a seismic corner this season and results are starting to match performances. After a tricky start to the season in which they were dominating matches with nothing to show for it, now they are seeing dividends.
Some might say that London is royal blue, with Everton claiming wins in three corners of the capital – Brentford, West Ham and now Crystal Palace.
It made it six wins in their last nine games and the ‘noise’ around the club that Dyche often refers to is now much more positive.
With these teams averaging less than 41 per cent possession in games before this clash, and both being well-drilled defences that struggle to put goals away, this match felt like it was destined to be a low-scoring affair.
That prediction was dead just 56 seconds into the game when Mykolenko headed home Jack Harrison’s cross. After just his second Everton goal in his 53rd appearance last week against Brighton, the in-form Ukrainian left-back showed poachers’ instinct to pop up and add another.
Like with his strike last week, it was Mykolenko who started the move by winning possession high up the pitch. ‘Myko is beginning to mature into himself really as a player,’ said Dyche. ‘He can defend, he’s beginning to show he can get forward well too.’
Away fans had barely taken their position on the terraces and they were still celebrating when Eze weaved through their defence and won a penalty, going down from a Jarrad Branthwaite challenge. It looked soft but Eze stepped up and converted.
It was just the fourth Premier League match of 30-year-old Barrott’s refereeing career and he made another bold call on 26 minutes when he carded Eze for simulation, again going down under a Branthwaite challenge. That one looked more of a penalty than the one he did award.
‘To get a yellow card, I didn’t think was right,’ said Roy Hodgson. ‘It suggests he is a cheat, which he absolutely is not.’
Eberechi Eze pulled Palace back level after winning a penalty for the hosts in the first half
The England international ran the show for the hosts but was powerless to prevent a defeat
Odsonne Edouard levelled for the hosts to make it 2-2 before Gueye’s late winner for Everton
Eze then fouled Amadou Onana and James Garner – the latter in a shooting position – but neither warranted a card in Barrott’s eyes, much to Everton’s frustration.
But fans soon stopped grumbling, as Doucoure fired them back ahead minutes after the break. It could have easily been a second goal of the day for part-time goal machine Mykolenko, as his long-range shot rattled the post and luckily Doucoure was jolly on the spot to score the rebound.
But Everton sat deep and invited pressure, with Jordan Pickford making key stops. Skipper James Tarkowski made a calamitous era in an otherwise solid display to gift Palace a second equaliser, though, ducking away from a cross and allowing Edouard to sneak in and score.
From there Hodgson’s side were the only team who looked like winning. But Everton made a rare attack and Gueye combined with Doucoure. The man sent on to thwart Eze ghosted through Palace’s defence, took a clever touch and finished well to win the match.
The ‘noise’ that Sean Dyche often refers to is now much more positive after six wins from nine
