Crystal Palace and Everton meet at Selhurst Park, in a match for the 36 th round of the Premier League. Everton won at home by (2-0) the last time they met in this edition of the league, on 10-20-2018. In this stadium, the history of direct confrontations is favorable to the visiting team, which records 2 wins and 2 draws in the last 4 matches. However, the last time these two teams played a match at this stadium was on 18-11-2017, for the Premier League, which ended in a draw by (2-2). The goals of the match were scored by J. McArthur (1 ‘) and W. Zaha (35’), for Crystal Palace, and L. Baines (6 ‘) and O. Niasse (45’), for Everton. In this match the home factor may be decisive, since both teams present considerable differences in the results obtained at home and as a visitor.
Crystal Palace:
The home team is currently in the 12 th position of the league, with 42 points won, after 12 wins, 6 draws and 17 losses. In the penultimate match, they lost in a home match against Manchester City, by (1-3). In the last match, they won in an away match against Arsenal, by (2-3). This is a team that usually gets better results in away matches than at home, since in the last 30 matches they register 7 wins, 2 draws and 6 losses in away matches, with 27 goals scored and 24 conceded; against 6 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses at their stadium, with 17 goals scored and 15 suffered. In the last 10 home league matches Crystal Palace has a record of 3 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses, so they have won 11 points out of 30 possible. In their home league matches the most frequent result at half-time was the 0-0 (7 out of 17 matches). They have not been very strong defensively, since they have suffered goals in 8 of the last 10 matches, but their offense has scored frequently, since they have scored goals in 9 of the last 10 matches for this competition. In their home matches for this competition there is a tendency for few goals, since 12 of the last 17 matches have ended with Under 2,5 goals. In 35 matches in this competition, they only got 1 comeback in the 16 games in which they suffered the first goal. There is 1 period that stands out in the last 17 home matches for this competition: they have scored 7 of their 14 goals between minutes (76′-90 ‘).
The Crystal Palace starts for this motivated game, having won by 2-3 in the difficult Arsenal stadium, thus adding the third win in the last five games in the Premier League: Benteke, Wilfried Zaha and James McArthur scored the goals of the three points. Despite the positive phase, it is important to emphasize that the home club only meets the calendar in this final part of the championship. In this game against Everton it will be expected that coach Roy Hodgson keeps the 4-4-2, privileging the defensive organization and counterattacks by the flanks: this system offers great ability to the team to exploit the wings. The captain Luka Milivojevic is the great highlight of the team so far, with 12 goals scored. For this game the local coach can not count on Tomkins, Schlupp and Mamadou Sakho, all with physical problems.
Everton:
After 14 wins, 7 draws and 14 losses, the away team is currently in the 7 th position of the league, with 49 points won. In the penultimate match, they lost in an away match against Fulham, by (2-0). In the last match, they won in a home match against Manchester United, by (4-0). This is a team that usually makes good use of the home advantage, stronger with the help of its supporters, since in the last 30 matches they register 5 wins, 1 draw and 9 losses in away matches, with 20 goals scored and 20 conceded; against 8 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses at their stadium, with 25 goals scored and 17 conceded. For the championship, Everton won 12 points out of 30 possible, after 4 wins and 6 losses in the last 10 home matches. In their home league matches the most frequent result at half-time was the 0-0 (8 out of 17 matches). In 35 games in this tournament, he suffered the first goal 14 times and never got the comeback.
Everton come to this day motivated, after a great 4-0 win at the reception to Manchester United: Richarlison, Digne, Walcott and Sigurdsson scored the goals of the three points. In that game the team gave a great lesson on how to play against teams that privilege the maintenance of possession, defending compactly, recovering the ball in defensive zones and launching counterattacks by the flanks. In this game, against Crystal Palace, coach Marco Silva must use a different strategy, that is, he will benefit possession of the ball and the successive slow attacks: Sigurdsson is the one responsible for transporting the ball towards the attack.
