Everton 2-3 Crystal Palace

by Richard Buxton, at Goodison Park

On a weekend when the Premier League’s upper echelons had been prone to upsets, Everton were always going to be susceptible.

Five months since Crystal Palace last travelled to Merseyside, Goodison Park suffered deja-vu.

Any talk of coping with the demands of fighting on both domestic and continental fronts by Roberto Martinez appeared somewhat hollow as the European hangover returned to haunt the Toffees.

Neil Warnock’s first win since rejoining the Eagles saw his side emulate their London rivals by claiming scalps either side of Stanley Park in the space of 24 hours. A comfortable but not clinical first half saw Everton punished in Martinez’s 50th game as manager at Goodison.

Within nine minutes, the hosts were ahead after a reverse pass from Leon Osman allowed Romelu Lukaku to pounce and record a second consecutive league goal in as many games.

For all Everton’s dominance, however, they were unseated on the half-hour mark after Tim Howard up-ended James McArthur in the penalty area as Miles Jedinak comfortably dispatched from 12 yards.

Palace’s confidence continued to grow. Yannick Bolasie caught Atsu in possession and proceeded to unleash a stunning 25-yard strike that a John Stones deflection sent onto the crossbar.

They reversed the roles after the interval as Howard was caught out when he challenged Fraizer Campbell, to a Martin Kelly cross, only to see the ball bounce into the net.

Not even the introductions of Steven Naismith and Kevin Mirallas did little to stem the tide for Everton as Bolasie finally found the net with relative ease after Jason Puncheon stole possession from Osman.

Baines attempted to stir an Everton fightback from the penalty spot, after James McCarthy was felled by Scott Dann, and the England defender almost engineered an equaliser minutes later but his cut back to Phil Jagielka on the edge of the area trickled wide of Speroni’s right-hand post.