Full TimeSecond Half ends, Crystal Palace 0, Everton 0.BookingMason Holgate (Everton) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.SubstitutionSubstitution, Everton. Mason Holgate replaces Abdoulaye Doucouré.BookingDominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.SubstitutionSubstitution, Crystal Palace. Jean-Philippe Mateta replaces Odsonne Édouard.SubstitutionSubstitution, Crystal Palace. James McCarthy replaces Eberechi Eze.SubstitutionSubstitution, Crystal Palace. Jairo Riedewald replaces Michael Olise.SubstitutionSubstitution, Everton. Ben Godfrey replaces Demarai Gray.SubstitutionSubstitution, Crystal Palace. Nathan Ferguson replaces Tyrick Mitchell.SubstitutionSubstitution, Crystal Palace. James McArthur replaces Jeffrey Schlupp.SubstitutionSubstitution, Crystal Palace. Joel Ward replaces Patrick van Aanholt.SubstitutionSubstitution, Crystal Palace. Scott Dann replaces Cheikhou Kouyaté.SubstitutionSubstitution, Everton. Neal Maupay replaces Dominic Calvert-Lewin.SubstitutionSubstitution, Crystal Palace. James Hughes replaces Michael Olise.
Crystal Palace edged closer to Premier League survival with a drab goalless draw against Everton, who finished the game with 10 men and drop into the bottom three. Palace were the more cohesive side in the first half without managing to carve out any clear openings, Michael Olise’s tame shot their only effort on target before the interval. Everton grew into the game after a disjointed start, their best chance of the first half coming when Alex Iwobi’s first-time effort from Tyrick Mitchell’s clearance was pushed away by Palace goalkeeper Sam Johnstone. Eberechi Eze thought he had broken the deadlock early in the second half after lifting the ball over Jordan Pickford, but the 24-year-old was denied a fourth goal in three games by an offside flag. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, making his first start since early February, fired narrowly wide not long afterwards, before Mason Holgate was dismissed for a second bookable offence late on.
Toffees into bottom three despite point
Everton have now gone five games without victory and with a tricky run of fixtures on the horizon, the Toffees’ place in top flight is under serious threat. They were boosted by the return of Calvert-Lewin, who made his first appearance in more than two months after recovering from a hamstring injury, but the striker was left isolated for the majority of the first half. Sean Dyche’s team were poor in possession to begin with and improved as the first half wore on, Iwobi forcing a fine save out of Johnstone with a sweetly struck volley from around 25 yards. Calvert-Lewin did go close to firing Everton ahead in the second half, but his left-footed shot from Iwobi’s pass rolled agonisingly wide of Johnstone’s left-hand post. Holgate endured a particularly torrid afternoon against the lively Jordan Ayew and was sent off with 10 minutes remaining after clipping the Ghanaian’s heels. After welcoming high-flying Newcastle to Goodison Park on Thursday, Dyche’s team travel to fellow strugglers Leicester City on 1 May in a crucial encounter near the foot of the table. Leicester swapped places with Everton on Saturday by coming from behind to beat Wolves 2-1.
No way through for Palace
After flirting with relegation for the past few months, Palace can surely start planning for a 10th successive top-flight campaign after stretching their unbeaten start to life under Roy Hodgson to four matches. The Eagles move on to 37 points, nine points clear of the bottom three with just six games of the season remaining. Olise’s tame effort was the closest Palace came to a breakthrough before half-time, but they had the better opportunities in the second half and looked the likeliest to find a winner in the latter stages. Eze produced a confident finish from Marc Guehi’s lofted pass but was clearly offside, while second-half substitute Luka Milivojevic had a rasping shot deflected narrowly wide. Palace were then unable to press home their numerical advantage after Holgate’s dismissal.
Player of the match
Michael Olise with an average of 7.11 was awarded player of the match for his performance in Crystal Palace’s goalless draw against Everton. Olise was joined by Eberechi Eze (7.08), Jordan Ayew (6.67), Marc Guehi (6.59), Sam Johnstone (6.56), James Hughes (6.55), Joakim Andersen (6.54), Tyrick Mitchell (6.48), Abdoulaye Doucouré (6.44), Joel Ward (6.44), Jeffrey Schlupp (6.44) and Odsonne Édouard (6.37) in making up Crystal Palace’s starting eleven. On Everton’s side, Jordan Pickford (5.71), Dwight McNeil (5.66), James Tarkowski (5.51), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (5.50), Demarai Gray (5.45), Alex Iwobi (5.38), Ben Garner (5.30), Idrissa Gueye (5.26), Michael Keane (5.12), Vitaliy Mykolenko (5.05) and Mason Holgate (4.05) started for the Toffees before Holgate was sent off late on for a second bookable offence and replaced by Ben Godfrey (4.35). Neal Maupay (3.74) also came on as a late substitute for Calvert-Lewin as Everton dropped into the bottom three despite picking up a point at Selhurst Park.