Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
In a week where Sam Allardyce has been quoted as ‘trying to buy nearly 20 players’ but failed to conclude the deal to bring in Carl Jenkinson on loan from Arsenal he will also have preparations for the visit of Everton in mind this Afternoon as he still looks for a first Premier League win since taking charge of Crystal Palace.
It’s no win in four attempts and three successive defeats for the one time England boss as his Palace side move to closer to the bottom three with only Hull’s quite abysmal Goal Difference keeping them on the right side of the dreaded dotted line.
That win obviously has to come soon but that task is not going to be easy this Afternoon as visitors Everton will undoubtedly have their tails up after their stunning win over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at Goodison Park last Sunday.
For Palace they come here off the back of a comprehensive defeat of their own, after making the short trip to East London last Saturday it was not a great return to West Ham for Allardyce as he saw Slaven Bilic’s men run out comfortable 3-0 winners.
That’s now 7 goals conceded in their last three matches with just a solitary goal to show for it across the same time frame. Those the kind of figures that would you have expected during the final days of Alan Pardew’s reign not the ones when a new boss is meant to give his new charges a lift.
Whatever way you look at it, it does not make for easy reading and Palace are going to have their work cut out if they are to get anything from their home encounter with Everton later Today, Everton were simply relentless last Sunday as they made easy work of Manchester City.
The hope and expectation now for Ronald Koeman will be that the level of performance in that 4-0 win will become the norm as it shows that on their day Everton can be a match for absolutely anyone but perhaps those days do not come around enough.
With the top 6 places all but already sewn up then Everton will look to be the best of the rest come the end of the season. With no silverware available for the blue half of Merseyside this season then that is all they can hope for between now and the end of the campaign.
Romelu Lukaku was instrumental in Everton’s win last Sunday and he will look to carry that form going into Today’s encounter. When you compare the two clubs Belgian strikers then it’s fair to say that Lukaku would win the personal battle between himself and Palace’s Christian Benteke.
There are still doubts over Benteke’s future at the club with reports saying that he could be sacrificed to bring in transfer funds to better the balance of the overall squad. Whether there is logic in selling the one player who could provide goals remains to be seen.
But one thing is for sure is that they could do with a goal from him later Today. If he gets on the scoresheet remains to be seen but unfortunately for Palace fans I can’t see that run without a win coming to an end, the unwanted streak continues for Allardyce as Everton run out winners. An away win for me.
