Everton correspondent Joe Thomas started the role in April 2022 and is yet to see the Blues lose to Palace
Joe Thomas is the Everton FC correspondent for the Liverpool ECHO. He follows the Blues home and away, providing match reports, analysis and insight into events at Goodison Park, Finch Farm and beyond. Joe spent more than a decade covering news on Merseyside, working on award-winning investigations and extensively covering matters related to the Hillsborough tragedy - including the recent criminal prosecutions. Always grateful for tips and feedback, he can be contacted at joe.thomas@reachplc.com and on Twitter via @joe_thomas18
Carlos Alcaraz celebrates victory with team-mate Vitaliy Mykolenko after the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Everton at Selhurst Park last season. Photo by Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images
Carlos Alcaraz celebrates victory with team-mate Vitaliy Mykolenko after the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Everton at Selhurst Park last season. Photo by Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images
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Crystal Palace’s unbeaten run has captured plenty of attention. Even more after it was extended with that dramatic victory over Liverpool last weekend.
The longest unbeaten run in Europe certainly deserves praise, particularly considering just what it has encompassed - an FA Cup final win over Manchester City, Community Shield success over Liverpool and an emotional foray into European football.
Everton will be hoping to draw inspiration from a different run on Sunday, however. One that bodes far better for David Moyes.
For recent managers, Palace have been a useful foil. At different stages of the Frank Lampard and Sean Dyche eras the club provided breakthrough wins that meant more than just the three points - points that invariably proved crucial in whichever relegation fight they were taking on at the time.
No-one needs reminding of the heartstring-pulling Thursday night that saw Goodison Park go wild as Dominic Calvert-Lewin sealed an incredible comeback win that saved Everton from the Championship. Weeks earlier, Lampard had seen his side thrashed at Selhurst Park in the FA Cup, an awful day in which a cup exit was marred by the injury that essentially ended Andros Townsend’s Blues career and led the then-boss to question the mentality of his players.
Since then, the story has only been positive - home and away. After the May 2022 win sealed Everton’s Premier League status, Palace returned the following October. Under the late summer sunshine Calvert-Lewin, Anthony Gordon and Dwight McNeil goals sealed a 3-0 win that felt like the high point of Lampard’s tenure. At that point the Blues had momentum and the trouble that was soon to come felt distant after a genuinely good performance.
The good times did not last - even though he would remain in charge until the following January, that would be Lampard’s last win.
That brought in Dyche who, after taking a hard-fought draw from Selhurst Park in the April, returned there in November to seal a 3-2 win that felt like a turning point in that campaign. After a tough start, the win marked Everton’s fourth in six games and the season looked to be heading towards the sort of mid-table stability the club had craved. In the international break that followed, the Blues would be plunged into chaos by the 10 point deduction suffered as a result of the club’s failure to comply with spending regulations.
A draw at a sodden Selhurst Park in the FA Cup third round followed, Everton winning the replay through an Andre Gomes free-kick. A turgid home draw in the league followed in the February but then came another momentum-changing result against the same opposition. The Blues had suffered another woeful start under Dyche only for them to come from behind to beat Palace - McNeil the hero - to record their first win of last season.
And while he was gone by the time Everton went to Selhurst Park, Moyes became the latest boss to get a massive win over the same club as he took an injury-hit side to south London and, led by Carlos Alcaraz, picked up a 2-1 win that essentially ended fears of a relegation fight.
So that’s nine straight games with Palace in which Everton are unbeaten home and away and in which three managers - Moyes included - have been boosted by crucial wins over the team that visit Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday.
None of that means Everton will win, and the stakes are far lower than they have been in previous seasons. But after a frustrating month it is clear the Blues could do with the lift that three points would bring.
And if Palace have a record Everton might fear, they too will feel the weight of recent history against them when they travel to Merseyside.