Everton lost expensive points in the battle for European football in the final phase of the game against Crystal Palace on Monday evening. In the Premier League game, a goal by James Rodríguez seemed to be enough to take a victory out of the fire, but in the 86th minute, substitute Michy Batshuayi threw a spanner in the works: 1-1. Stay through the draw the Toffees with 47 points in eighth place in the rankings and you sail in the wake of West Ham United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur (all 49 points) and Chelsea (51). Later in the evening, West Ham will play against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The teams were well matched in the opening phase at Goodison Park, although it took until the twentieth minute before the first big chance was recorded. After a self-created combination, Eberechi Eze received the ball back in a favorable position, but the shot that the midfielder produced was dived from the bottom corner by goalkeeper Robin Olsen. There was immediately a counter from Everton. On the other side, however, there was also an important role for the closing post of service: Vicente Guaita saved the deployment of Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Two minutes later Richarlison also got an excellent opportunity to open the score. Jordan Ayew suffered a sloppy loss of possession in his own half, allowing André to take over Gomes and bringing Richarlison into position, but the Brazilian forward’s crosshairs were not in focus with Guaita. As the first half progressed, Everton got stronger; one hit, however, did not yield the appetite for attack. Palace, which kicked off with Jairo Riedewald and Patrick van Aanholt, came little close to the enemy goal after the chance from Eze and a pinprick from Wilfried Zaha.
The game was broken open in the second half. After a carom in front of the goal of Palace, Seamus Coleman got the leather on the corner of the five-meter area in front of his feet, after which the right back put back to Rodríguez. The Colombian found a hole in the bottom right corner and put Everton ahead: 1-0. It was the first goal for Rodríguez, who returned from injury since February 6, when he scored 2-2 against Manchester United. A victory for the club from Liverpool seemed within reach, but four minutes before the end of the official playing time, Palace still came alongside. It was the just substitute Batshuayi who worked the 1-1 against the ropes on the instructions of Jeffrey Schlupp.