Jewels In The Palace

Crystal Palace put an exclamation mark on their superb season so far with a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing of struggling Everton. It was a strange old game as Everton actually started the match on fire; pinning their opponents back in their own half for the first 20 minutes and if there was ever gonna be a winner; it looked for sure to be them.

But lo and behold; they failed to make their territorial advantage count; and it was Palace who scored against the run of play to turn this match on its head. Marc Guehi; having a breakthrough season and called up to the England squad for the first time; survived a rather nervy start to head home uncontested from a corner; as Everton's woeful defending at set-pieces reared its head again.

Everton look shorn of confidence these days; and their play quickly deteriorated as Jean-Philippe Mateta stroked home a nice team move after yet more slack Everton defending. By the time Wilfried Zaha and substitute Will Hughes scored in the second half to make it 4-0; it completed another distressing afternoon for Everton; who must now turn their attention to an increasingly-dangerous relegation fight.