The English Premier League cuts more meat away from the Week 9 fixtures after Everton beat Crystal Palace with a late show at Goodison Park.
Roy Hodgson has a point.
Football doesn’t give you what you deserve.
It’s a question of results, and on Sunday afternoon, in a sun-filled Goodison Park, Crystal Palace left without one.
The early chances went the way of the Southerners. James Tomkins headed an Andros Townsend cross wide of the mark, and the pair were involved in another excellent opportunity after an unmarked Tomkins headed a Townsend corner across goal, and Cheikhou Kouyaté nutted the ball against the bar from five-yards out.
The golden chance arrived on the hour when the referee awarded Palace a penalty after a rash challenge on Wilfried Zaha by Seamus Coleman. Luka Milivojevic stepped up to score his tenth penalty in his last 11-attempts only for Jordan Pickford to stop it with his trailing right boot.
Then a crucial moment.
With eight minutes remaining, Marco Silva checked the gas gauge, saw it was red-lining, and made three changes, bringing on Ademola Lookman, Dominic Calvin-Lewin, and Cenk Tosun.
Five minutes later, it was Lookman who put in a peach of a ball from the left-hand side, and Calvin-Lewin towered above the Palace defence to head home from six yards. It was the 12th goal in all competitions for Calvert-Lewin since the start of last season, more than any other Toffeeman.
Then with time running out, a big hoof up the field from an Everton defender saw Tosun outpace Mamadou Sakho and drill the ball between the legs of Wayne Hennessey.
It was the third Premiership victory on the spin for Everton after beating Fulham and Leicester, and they leapfrog Man Utd, Leicester and Wolves to settle in eighth place.
As for Palace, the defeat is their third on the trot, and they remain winless in four (scoring only once). Roy Hodgson’s side faces Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd in the next four matches, and after scored just five goals all season, methinks Palace will plunge deep into the relegation zone at the end of that traffic jam of Big 6 clubs.
Here are the fixtures in full:
Fixtures in Full
Chelsea 2 v 2 Man Utd
West Ham 0 v 1 Spurs
Newcastle 0 v 1 Brighton
Bournemouth 0 v 0 Southampton
Cardiff 4 v 2 Fulham
Wolves 0 v 2 Watford
Man City 5 v 0 Burnley
Huddersfield 0 v 1 Liverpool
Everton 2 v 0 Crystal Palac
To Be Played
Arsenal v Leicester (Mon)
Premier League Table
1. Man City – 23
2. Liverpool – 23
3. Chelsea – 21
4. Spurs – 21
5. Arsenal – 18
6. Bournemouth – 17
7. Watford – 16
8. Everton – 15
9. Wolves – 15
10. Man Utd – 14
11. Leicester – 12
12. Brighton – 11
13. Burnley – 8
14. West Ham – 7
15. Crystal Palace – 7
16. Southampton – 5
17. Cardiff – 5
18. Fulham – 5
19. Huddersfield – 3
20. Newcastle- 2
Premier League Winner Odds
Man City 4/7
Liverpool 5/1
Chelsea 12/1
Spurs 28/1
Arsenal 33/1
Man Utd 80/1
Premier League Relegation Odds
Cardiff 2/5
Huddersfield 4/11
Burnley 6/4
Newcastle 7/4
Fulham 11/8
Top 4 Finish
Man City 1/150
Liverpool 1/16
Chelsea 2/9
Spurs 4/7
Arsenal 6/4
Man Utd 3/1
Top Goalscorer
Sergio Aguero – 11/4
Harry Kane 3/1
Mohamed Salah – 5/1
Eden Hazard – 6/1
Next Manager to Leave
Jose Mourinho – 5/2
Slavisa Jokanovic – 3/1
Mark Hughes 6/1
