Replay At Goodison As Everton Hold Palace At Selhurst

The Eagles missed an opportunity to get themselves into the Fourth Round of the FA Cup after the visitors saw out the last twenty minutes with ten men.

MATCH INFORMATION

• 8pm – 4^th January 2024
• Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton
• Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 5 James TOMKINS, 23 Malcolm EBIOWEI, 31 Remi MATTHEWS, 44 Jairo RIEDEWALD, 45 Tayo ADARAMOLA

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 1 Jordan PICKFORD, 2 Nathan PATTERSON, 5 Michael KEANE, 22 Ben GODFREY, 28 Youssef CHERMITI, 58 Mackenzie HUNT, 61 Lewis DOBBIN

TEB VERDICT

The visitors probably just edged it in the end but Palace end up facing a replay at Goodison Park later this month after a hard-fought goalless draw.

After the clamour to see Matheus Franca make a start, it was good to see some glimpses from him before he was replaced. It was clear that the Eagles missed the creativity of Michael Olise while Ebere Eze really struggled to get much going but almost won it in the end with a great effort from distance.

In truth, Palace struggled to break down the stubborn Everton resistance who would probably made things more difficult in the dying embers of the game had they had a full complement of players.

On a damp Thursday evening, the fans that packed out Selhurst park were not treated to a spectacle unfortunately. It was disappointing from the hosts, should have really gone for the win as Everton were there for the taking, especially when they lost a player.

Unfortunately, if Eze is not firing on all cylinders, then Palace generally struggle without Olise available. The early booking for diving would not have helped but there were bright sparks from Franca which makes us want to see more from him. Otherwise, there was really not much else to report. 

POST GAME QUOTES

ROY HODGSON

“I think it was certainly a missed opportunity in the last fifteen minutes playing against ten men, but overall across the whole game both teams defended pretty well.

It was a game of relatively few chances, a game where both sides were working very hard to stop the other team creating chances. If you look at it philosophically then these games often end in a draw or a moment of magic decides it for one side. Unfortunately we didn’t have that magic, we did in the last few games, but today we couldn’t find that.”

“Everton deserved their draw that is for sure. Now we end up with a replay that neither I nor Sean probably would have wanted before the game started.”

SEAN DYCHE

“We have shown a lot this season. Even down to ten men, I thought the mentality was excellent. We showed that tonight with another good performance.

I haven’t asked Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The slow motion shows a different picture. If you want to slow-mo everything, you have to slow-mo everything. There could have been a penalty on Beto. There’s minor contact, in live time he doesn’t give anything, then they slow it down and everything looks worse.

I thought we took the game on all night, I was really pleased. We created chances. A lot of good things. We want as many players back as we can so we’ll look forward to the replay.”

MATCH STATISTICS

UPCOMING FIXTURES

20/01/24 Arsenal (a) – Premier League 12.30pm

30/01/24 Sheffield United (h) – Premier League 8pm

03/02/24 Brighton (a) – Premier League 3pm