Jack Grealish’s first goal for Everton snatched a 2-1 victory in added time to end Crystal Palace’s 19-game unbeaten run.
The on-loan Manchester City winger knew little about it as Eagles’ goalscorer Daniel Munoz’s clearance rebounded off him into the net but he happily claimed it, after manager David Moyes had called on him to produce more of a threat in front of goal.
That threat had been absent from the whole team for the majority of the game until Maxence Lacroix needlessly gave away a penalty which allowed Iliman Ndiaye to equalise 14 minutes from time.
And when goalkeeper Dean Henderson could only block Beto’s header in the third minute of stoppage time, Grealish was in the right place at the right time to get his body in the way to maximum effect.
It was an afternoon when the visitors’ efficient effectiveness deserted them as they squandered the chance to reach the heady heights of second place after a relatively comfortable first half in which they led through Munoz’s 37th-minute strike.
That they did not came down to the efforts of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, making his 300th Premier League appearance for the club, and Eagles forward Jean-Philippe Mateta missing an open goal with the score at 1-0.
Palace had only previously lost once under Oliver Glasner when leading at half-time in the Premier League – also at Everton, in September last year.
That was at Goodison Park but this victory for the home side felt like lift-off in their new Hill-Dickinson Stadium, where they remain unbeaten.
A year ago Palace, undefeated since April 16, were 18th and without a win. Even after the disappointment here, fifth place is uncharted territory.
Moyes gave a full Premier League debut to summer signing Tyler Dibling, with Thierno Barry (no goals) preferred to Beto (one Premier League goal, one League Cup goal) up front, but it took 45 minutes to reassess that decision with both hooked at the interval.
Yeremy Pino forced Pickford into his first save after 86 seconds, the goalkeeper then palming away shots from Marc Guehi and Mateta either side of Tyrick Mitchell hitting the angle of post and crossbar.
He was eventually beaten at his near post by Munoz after a move from left to right by Pino and Ismaila Sarr as Everton went behind at the new stadium for the first time.
Barry swung and missed six yards out before showing his inexperience by failing to find Ndiaye with a return pass in a two-on-two.
Boos at half-time pre-empted the arrival of Charly Alcaraz, playing as a number 10 but closer to the striker, and Beto.
However, Palace continued to threaten, with Jake O’Brien heading off the line from Mateta’s chip over Pickford after James Tarkowski and Vitalii Mykolenko had got in each other’s way.
But the match swung on Mateta’s miss after he rolled a shot wide of an open goal after Sarr had broken through the inside-left channel and drawn Pickford off his line.
Lacroix’s decision to pull out of a tackle on substitute Tim Iroegbunam backfired as he slipped and fell into the midfielder, allowing Ndiaye to send Henderson the wrong way from the spot, setting the stage for Grealish to open his account and seal all three points.
