Roy Hodgson’s side will be hoping that their strong abilities on the road and solid recent record away to the Toffees will help them to pick up their first three points since beating Huddersfield Town away in September.
While Palace’s current form has suffered lately compared with Everton’s two consecutive league wins against Fulham and Leicester City respectively, their recent record at Goodison Park will encourage Eagles fans, having won two and drawn two of their previous five games in the blue half of Merseyside.
This league fixture has historically provided reliable entertainment for the neutral, having yielded 2.67 goals-per-game from 14 matches.
But Palace will be without target man Christian Benteke, who has netted five times from just nine games against the Toffees. His record facing the Blues will be missed but the Eagles forwards will be looking to maintain this fixture’s high-scoring standards. Everton have conceded 12 goals this season compared with Palace’s nine.
Silva will be hoping to secure his first win as a manager against Palace, having lost during stints leading both Hull City and Watford in 2017. Though at his disposal this time is Gylfi Sigurðsson, who has been involved in seven goals against Palace from six Premier League starts.
The Icelandic midfielder has scored three times from his past four league games and will be looking to rack up a trio of successive matches with a goal under his belt.
But as the Eagles will face three of the Premier League’s top five in their forthcoming consecutive fixtures after Everton, Hodgson will be determined to take all three points back to south London.
Team news
Palace's Wilfried Zaha is due to be assessed following an injury sustained whilst on international duty. It is not yet clear whether he will be available for Sunday's fixture but he should feature if he can complete training unscathed.
On Wednesday, Joel Ward picked up a muscular injury in training and will be unavailable for the match. Jonny Williams has also picked up an injury and so will not be available for selection. Max Meyer and Alexander Sørloth are in doubt currently due to illness while Christian Benteke is still injured, but his recovery is expcted to be marginally shorter than first expected.
Everton have been bouyed by the return of three previously in-doubt players. Yerry Mina, André Gomes and James McCarthy are all now fully fit and ready to play on Sunday. Idrissa Gana Gueye will face a late fitness test having picked up an ankle injury while on international duty for Senegal.
Did you know?
James Vaughan became the league’s youngest-ever scorer when playing for Everton as a 73rd-minute substitute against the Eagles. He was 16 and 271 days old and helped the Toffees to win 4-0, before going on to play for Palace later in his career.
Double agent
Yannick Bolasie rapidly rose to prominence during his years at Selhurst Park and terrorised defenders up and down well-trodden wings for four years before moving to Everton for a club-record sale of £25 million. He now plays on loan for Aston Villa and has made six appearances so far this season, scoring twice.
Big game flashback
In 2001, Crystal Palace travelled up to Goodison as a struggling second tier side in round two of the League Cup. The season before, the Eagles had finished 15th in the First Division whilst opponents Everton had ended their Premier League campaign high in 13th.
As clear underdogs, Steve Bruce’s side went on to win a game that saw 11 penalties converted and 12 taken. With all square at 1-1 following a Duncan Ferguson penalty on the 6th minute and Dougie Freedman’s on the 10th, extra time failed to separate the two sides and so referee John Brandwood blew for a shoot-out.
Kevin Campbell was the only one of ten players to miss and so Palace went through as victors 5-4 on penalties despite Paul Gascoigne managing to convert their fourth; putting pressure on Clinton Morrison, who took the final kick. Palace’s joy wasn’t to last however as fate played a cruel hand when they lost the third round 3-1 on penalties against Sheffield Wednesday.
Key game elsewhere
Keep an eye on Newcastle United’s game against Brighton and Hove Albion this Saturday, a match that could extend the Seagulls’ advantage over Palace to four points before Sunday’s kick-off.
Newcastle, however, almost pulled off an impressive result against Manchester United in their last game and have had the international break to prepare for Brighton’s visit.
If Palace win and Brighton fail to, the Eagles will leapfrog the south coast side. A draw for the Eagles would be enough if Brighton lose.
Head-to-head over the years
|
Everton wins |
Crystal Palace wins |
Draws |
Total |
League |
14 |
10 |
12 |
36 |
FA Cup |
4 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
League Cup |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Full Members’ Cup |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Total |
19 |
13 |
15 |
47 |
Tickets and travel
Find ticket details here.
Fans are advised to use public transport when travelling to Goodison Park. Trains run from Euston Station to Liverpool Lime Street and take approximately two and a half hours. Supporters can then take local buses from the station to close to the stadium.
If driving, take the M6 and turn off at Junction 21A onto the M62 and then take Junction 6 onto the M57. Two junctions later turn off onto the A580, turning left onto Walton Hall Avenue for the ground.
If you arrive early then there is street parking to be found around Walton Lane. Otherwise park over towards Anfield or in Stanley Park itself (the entrance to the car park is in Priory Road, costing £8).
Live coverage
For live TV listings from your country, check out our Worldwide TV Listings.
There will be live updates on the Palace Twitter account as well as highlights on Palace TV while fans can still pay just £1.49 on our app or website to hear live commentary of all Palace games.
The ref
Anthony Taylor will referee Sunday’s game. Taylor has awarded six penalties to Palace from just 20 matches and this fixture has seen 15% of its goals scored from the spot, the joint-highest percentage of any fixture in the competition to have seen at least 40 goals (level with Arsenal vs Stoke).