David Moyes, Manager of Everton, celebrates after the team's victory in the Premier League match between Everton and Crystal Palace at Hill Dickinson Stadium on October 05, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)placeholder image
David Moyes, Manager of Everton, celebrates after the team's victory in the Premier League match between Everton and Crystal Palace at Hill Dickinson Stadium on October 05, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Everton battled from behind to earn a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
David Moyes admitted Crystal Palace should have been ‘out of sight’ against Everton - but praised the Toffees’ resolve to battle to victory.
Everton came from behind to deliver a 2-1 win and extend their unbeaten start at Hill Dickinson Stadium since their move from Goodison Park. In addition, they put paid to Palace’s streak of 19 games without losing.
The away side were far better in the opening 45 minutes and Daniel Munoz’s strike was the least that they deserved. After the break, Palace spurned two more good chances through Jean-Philippe Mateta and Everton capitalised.
Tim Iroegbunam won the Blues a penalty that was stroked home by Iliman Ndiaye. Then in the third minute of stoppage-time, Jack Grealish bagged his first goal for the club when he charged down a clearance during a scramble and the ball ricocheted into the back of the net.
Everton boss Moyes said: “Jack did great again. He had a couple of shots on target, which were pretty comfortable for the goalkeeper to save but I have been pushing him to get goals as well as assists.
“Johnny on the spot - that’s the key to it, isn’t it? The it you have to take from it is Ili Ndiaye’s cross in such a small space was an incredible cross. He stood it up and really Beto should have buried it. The keeper makes a good save if you want to put it that way but Jack is in and around it to block it and we get that goal.
“I’ve been expecting (a late goal). We played Aston Villa here and thought the way we were playing, we were going to get a goal. We played West Ham the other night and I was thinking this will be the night we get a late goal and we hadn’t done it. Even Leeds United we’re 1-0 down and I thought we were going to get late goal. In those early games, I never felt it was coming.
“I thought Crystal Palace should have been out of sight. They should have been 3-0 up but we stuck at it, kept defending and eventually got a bit of good fortune.”
Everton’s improved performance in the second period was down to their substitutions. Charly Alcaraz was excellent while Beto gave the Palace defence more to think about. Moyes added: “I’ve got to say the subs made a huge impact on the game. Charly, Beto and Tim all made an incredible impact which is great for me because I needed them and we needed them to change things around. The big thing at half-time was to change the mentality because we started the game so poorly. We kicked it up the pitch, headed it out for a throw-in, threw it into the box and headed it out for a corner. Before you know it, we’re defending two or three corners in the first three of four minutes.
“We didn’t play well but never got to grips. We had a few counter-attacks but never had it and they were decisions I felt we had to try to make to claw back into it. We started the second half really well but gave them big opportunities but we were getting better and stronger and the boys coming off the bench made a big difference.”
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