Everton vs Crystal palace: Opposition Analysis | No More False Starts

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In a winnable home game, the Blues must get the job done time

It's been an eventual week in the Land of the Blues. On Saturday, Everton gained its first point of the Premier League campaign, though they still managed to squander the lead for the third game running, in only drawing with a mediocre Leicester City side — enduring some horrendous weather at the King Power Stadium to boot.

The gloom was lifted on Monday, however with the news that The Friedkin Group had come back in for Everton, followed shortly afterwards by confirmation that a deal for the sale of the club was in place. Spirits have lifted, with the expectation that the stasis afflicting the Toffees for the past few years should be coming to an end shortly.

With things off the pitch picking up, it's up to Sean Dyche and the players to show a similar reversal of fortune on it. Crystal Palace will be the visitors to an expectant Goodison Park this afternoon.

Form

Veteran manager Roy Hodgson was let go shortly before Palace's last trip to Merseyside in February, and Oliver Glasner was quickly named as his successor on the day of the match. With the new man watching on from the Goodison stands, the South Londoners took the lead, but were pegged back by the hosts late on. After winning next time out, against hapless Burnley, the Eagles went winless over the following five matches, before ending the campaign strongly under their new boss, picking up six victories and a draw in the last seven, finishing in a healthy tenth position in the table.

It always looked as though the club would struggle to keep all of its star performers over the summer and so it proved. They were able to fight off late interest from Newcastle United for England defender Marc Guehi and surprisingly, nobody came in for his outstanding international teammate Eberechi Eze. Departing, however were gifted winger Michael Olise, to Bayern Munich for €53m and centre half Joachim Andersen, sold to Fulham for €29.5m. Flop striker Odsonne Edouard (loan, Leicester City) and veteran forward Jordan Ayew (€5.9m) also left for pastures new.

Replacing the latter two was Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah, who arrived for €29.7m. Other impactful (so far) signings have been Wolfsburg central defender Maxence Lacroix (€18m), free agent attacking midfielder Daichi Kamada - who played under Glasner at Eintracht Frankfurt - and winger Ismaila Sarr (€15m from Marseille), a one-time target for the Blues, who has so far only been used from the bench. Despite spending a sizeable chunk on new players, Palace managed to generate a net trading profit of €23m during the summer transfer window.

The Eagles began the new campaign poorly, losing their first two games, to Brentford and West Ham United — though they could be entitled to feel aggrieved in seeing a perfectly good Eze free kick goal in the opener chalked off for a phantom foul. Since, the Londoners have gone unbeaten, though their only wins have come in the EFL Cup. They started poorly against Chelsea, but fought back to draw 1-1, and somehow fell two goals behind against Leicester, before salvaging a point on the road. Last time out, Palace were poor for much of the game and could have been buried by halftime against Manchester United. They finished on top in a goalless stalemate.

The Eagles arrive at Goodison sitting in 16th spot in the table.

Style of Play

Glasner is very much a systems man, taking his basic philosophy and 3-4-2-1 formation with him throughout his coaching career. After cutting his teeth in the management game in his homeland, the Austrian arrived in the Bundesliga, to take charge of Wolfsburg in 2019. Despite leading them to the Champions League in his second season in charge, disagreements with club officials saw him leave for Frankfurt, where he won the Europa League in his inaugural campaign. A poor finish to his sophomore season, in which Eintracht finished seventh, led to Glasner's departure.

At Palace, he's continued with his preferred approach, which is one that prioritizes quick, counterattacking football, with an emphasis on wide play. Surprisingly, the Londoners currently rank ninth in possession, with 49.7% — though of course it's still early in the campaign. They've only scored four times - and only once from open play - but are generating 13.2 attempts per 90 minutes and an xG (Expected Goals) statistic of 6.6, which they are currently underperforming. The Eagles are only completing 80.5% of their passing attempts (ranking 17th), but go long with just 12.4% of their passes. They favour attacking down the left side.

Out of possession, Glasner likes to set pressing traps for an opponent, from out of a well-structured formation. Palace will often try to force the opposition to play in a certain direction and into pressure. Defensively, they aren't allowing a lot of shots per 90 (12.8, ranking ninth), though their xGA (Expected Goals Allowed) is quite high, at 8.2, which could be explained by their curiously slow start in most of their games so far. They've invariably finished matches strongly — which is a concern given Everton's tendency for fading after the hour mark under Dyche.

Player Assessment

With Olise gone, Eze is indisputably Palace's star man offensively. A scorer of double figure goals in the last two league campaigns, the attacking midfielder is an intelligent, skillful and mobile player who suits Glasner's system well. His 20 attempts at goal is a dozen more than Nketiah, next on the list. He leads his teammates in both SCA (Shot-Creating Actions), with 5.21 and in producing 2.0 key passes per 90. He's a threat running with the ball too, attempting 5.8 dribbles and penetrating the opposition penalty area 1.6 times per game.

20-year-old England international Adam Wharton will be key to how the visitors intend to play. The midfielder is active on defence, registering a combined 3.95 tackles and interceptions, as well as leading the Eagles with 7.91 ball recoveries per 90. The former Blackburn Rovers youngster is effective at receiving and moving the ball forward quickly, completing 8.37 progressive passes per game.

Solution

Morale in the Everton camp should have picked up a little given the quality of the team's performance at the King Power last weekend over the first hour or so. Once again, poor game management saw the Blues blow another lead, but at least they are generally starting games out well enough, which has to count for something. What effect news of the impending takeover has on players and coaching staff is hard to discern, but it surely would be looked on positively.

Dyche's position is precarious and will remain so for as long as the team fails to gain a first league win of the campaign. He can ease the pressure - which figures to be purely external at this point, with many names of prospective replacements for him being bandied about online and in the print media - with a win this afternoon. Bolstering his chances will be the expected return into the starting lineup of star defender Jarrad Branthwaite.

Everton's defence has looked far removed from the level it hit last term, in Branthwaite's absence; if nothing else, this appears to justify the huge fee the club were demanding for his services over the summer. With him alongside regular partner James Tarkowski, the hosts should look a lot more sturdy than has been the case so far this season. Vitalli Mykolenko should be available at left back, leaving just the right side of the back four as a question mark - and a possible target area for the visitors.

Dyche would be foolish to mess with the front four, who looked fluid and complimentary against the Foxes. The only one whose position is in doubt is Jesper Lindstrom, as I have a nagging feeling that the manager will want to reinsert the workmanlike but nonthreatening Jack Harrison back into the starting eleven. This would be a big error, in my view as the Dane is dynamic and his impact is growing. In midfield, Dyche has five solid options, though I'm not sure I'd change the Orel Mangala / Abdoulaye Doucoure tandem, which blended well.

So, how do Everton win today? On paper the two sides are well-matched, as regards quality, so this won't be an easy game. The Eagles will likely see more of the ball, which Dyche will be happy with. They've conceded two goals in transition so far this term, so I'd like to see a more aggressive pressing approach from the Blues, as they can play a higher line with Branthwaite's pace and covering ability at the back. This could be a fun watch, with Eze and Iliman Ndiaye both exciting individual talents. A game of football may even break out!

Overall, with two sides of similar ability, this one could come down to home advantage and the capabilities of the two managers. We know that Dyche can put together a good initial game plan, but so can Glasner and the Austrian is undoubtedly superior in making adjustments. My feeling is that the Toffees can start fast and knock the visitors out of their stride in the early going and put themselves into a lead. So long as Dyche's cautious instincts don't kick in, then the Blues can match the Eagles in the second half and get the three points.

Prediction: Everton 2-1 Palace

Statistics provided courtesy of fbref.com, whoscored.com and transfermarkt.com