Crystal Palace were once again unable to make the most of a numerical advantage in a 0-0 draw with Everton at Selhurst Park.
James McCarthy was sent-off for a second yellow early in the second-half and the Eagles were still not able to get on top of the visitors. In fact, after the dismissal Everton had one of their best spells in the match.
Apart from a 10 minute period where the Toffees had chances from Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley, they were quite scrappy in the game, giving Palace some easy opportunities that they were unable to capitalise on.
Both teams will be looking to improve in their next game when Palace travel to take on London rivals Arsenal, while Everton return home to face Southampton.
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Crystal Palace
Wayne Hennessey – 6: It is back-to-back clean sheets for the Palace goalkeeper after making some good saves against the blue attack.
Joel Ward – 5: Had some difficulty dealing with the threat of Aaron Lennon during the period of Everton momentum and played a couple of poor passes that allowed the opposition to get back on the front-foot.
Scott Dann – 6: Made really important clearances with his head and also some important blocks.
Damien Delaney – 6: A good game up against Lukaku, keeping the striker relatively quiet.
Pape Souare – 6.5: Provided some threatening crosses from the left late in the game, but the forwards were unable to capitalise on the deliveries.
Mile Jedinak – 7: Worked hard in the midfield, getting back to make some key interceptions and prevented Everton from any sustained time on the ball in the middle of the park.
Wilfried Zaha – 5: Had a good first-half and provided some decent opportunities for Palace, but faded in the latter stages before he was taken off.
Jason Puncheon – 8: Best performance for the Eagles this season. Generated countless chances for his strikers to break the dead lock and had a shot of his own, but could not convert.
Yohan Cabaye – 6: An improvement on the last few outings, getting in some dangerous set pieces and forcing mistakes from the Everton players with his pressure off the ball.
Yannick Bolasie – 5: Had a fairly quiet game by his standards, before he was replaced Emmanuel Adebayor.
Dwight Gayle – 5.5: Looked dangerous in the first-half having a couple of decent chances before coming of injured at the break.
Substitutes
Connor Wickham – 4.5: Really quiet after replacing Gayle, only having some chances late in the game which he could not take advantage of.
Emmanuel Adebayor – 6: Was looking the most likely to score after becoming the point of attack for Palace.
Bakary Sako – 5: Not able to really get in the game.
Everton
Joel Robles – 7: Withstood the shots that Palace got on target and was one of the main reason that the visitors did not lose this game.
Seamus Coleman – 6: Had a chance to score from a volley early. Did well in defence up against the dangerous Bolasie
John Stones – 5: Was good in the second-half up against Wickham, when the striker tried to get into the game.
Ramiro Funes Mori – 5: Had difficulty dealing with the threat that Adebayor presented, but did well enough to prevent him from scoring.
Leighton Baines – 6: Kept Zaha very quiet for much of the game and provided some decent crosses that should have resulted in more reward.
James McCarthy – 3: Both bookings were for some very silly and unnecessary tackles and those actions had the potential to cost Everton. Will now miss the game against Southampton.
Gareth Barry – 5: Had a quiet showing, only really getting involved late in the match.
Aaron Lennon – 6: Caused issues for the Palace right-side of defence in the good period of the game for Everton.
Ross Barkley – 5: Started very sloppily by giving away the ball almost every time he touched it, but his second-half was improved and came up with the best chance of the 90 minutes, after his shot beat Hennessey but hit the crossbar.
Arouna Kone – 5: Another player who struggled early. Had a good chance after intercepting a Palace pass took a long range shot that was saved by the goalkeeper.
Romelu Lukaku – 5: Had few chances to make an impact in the game in attack, but got back in defence a couple of times to help out.
Substitutes
Muhamed Besic – 5: Got across to close down some Souare crosses that had been looking dangerous
Bryan Oviedo – 5: No real influence, coming off the bench to replace Lennon.
Kevin Mirallas – 5: Had no time to make an impact coming on in the last 3 minutes.
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