Speaking to Premier League Productions earlier in the week, prior to the Eagles’ semi-final success against Shakhtar Donetsk, Henderson said of Pickford: “I've got a huge respect for him obviously. He’s done it for many years in the top level.
“It’s not easy that, to keep consistent performances up, constantly, week by week in the Premier League. We get on really well, and keep pushing each other.”
On Everton themselves – currently 10th in the Premier League table, but only five points off the European places – Henderson added: “They've been fantastic this season – they've had a really good season.
“They've probably done better than I thought they would. They've got some really good players who are in good form, so it's going to be a really tough game.”
Henderson and Pickford are both joint-third in the Premier League ‘keeper rankings for clean sheets kept this season (11 each), with Palace having kept their opponents at bay in three of their last four home league matches.
The Palace captain observed: “I think his [Oliver Glasner’s] defensive coaching is fantastic, but I think he likes to have that consistency of the back five and the goalkeeper, which obviously helps a lot because you build up relationships.
“Some of those relationships have been going for a couple of years now, so we're learning new stuff every day. There are a lot of good connections in the back line, which obviously gives us that calmness and solidity.”