Evertonvs
Crystal PalaceEverton came into Saturday carrying an LLDDL run that had the Hill Dickinson faithful restless. Crystal Palace weren't exactly flying either — one win in their last four — so something had to give. What gave, in the end, was Palace's defensive shape, and Everton made them pay twice before the game was an hour old.
The Goals That Settled It
The first arrived just before halftime. Harrison Armstrong picked out Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the 42nd minute, and Dewsbury-Hall finished with the composure of a man who'd been waiting for exactly that moment. It was the kind of goal that doesn't make highlight reels but absolutely makes results — calm, well-timed, decisive.
Eight minutes into the second half, Thierno Barry made it two. Iliman Ndiaye delivered the ball, Barry got above his marker, and the header was in. Cabal, that was the match done as a contest. Palace had possession — 57.9% of it by the final whistle — but they never really threatened to pull one back, managing just four shots on target against a backline that looked comfortable all afternoon.
Palace's Night in Numbers
The stats paint a familiar picture of a team that controlled the ball without controlling the game. Palace completed passes at a 90% clip, circulated well, and still couldn't manufacture a corner — not one. Everton, working with 42.1% possession, managed 16 shots to Palace's 11 and kept four saves behind them to preserve the clean sheet.
Daichi Kamada picked up a yellow card in the 30th minute — the only booking of the afternoon — and while it didn't directly change the game, it was a sign of Palace's frustration even before they'd gone behind.
El chispudo de Dewsbury-Hall in the buildup to his goal was the real turning point. He found space that Palace's midfield should have closed, and Armstrong's delivery was sharp enough to punish them for leaving it open. Once Barry headed in the second, Palace needed three goals from a team that couldn't find the right final ball all day. That was never coming.
Verdict
Our pre-match read made Everton the favorite at 42%, and they delivered exactly that — a controlled home performance that looked like a team finding its footing rather than one riding a wave of form. The clean sheet will matter as much as the goals. Everton's recent run suggested a side still figuring out its identity; this felt more settled, more structured.
For Palace, the question now is what to make of a performance where they had the ball and did so little with it. Zero corners across ninety minutes is a damning number for an attacking side. They'll feel they were better than the scoreline suggests, and maybe they were in patches — but Everton didn't need to be dominant to win. They just needed to be clinical, and on Saturday at the Hill Dickinson, they were.
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