Crystal Palace have been on a freefall in recent matches and will be hoping to arrest the bad run when they play host to Everton in Round 16. Ahead of the game, Palace have dropped to 14th, with 16 points, while Everton is up to 12th on 18 points. Palace are on three straight losses ahead of this game and are winless in the last four. They failed to score in their last two matches and three of their last five matches have produced under 2.5 goals. They have just one clean sheet in five games. It hasn’t been very consistent for them at home; in the seven home games this season, they have just two wins and three clean sheets. In their last home game, they lost 2-1 to Aston Villa.
Everton will be buoyed by their win over Arsenal in the last game and with a number of players coming back from injury, Rafa Benitez’s side will have better confidence than in earlier weeks. The Toffees came from a goal down to sink Arsenal 2-1 at Goodison Park with Demarai Gray scoring the winning goal. It was his second goal in as many games, after earlier scoring against Liverpool. The visitors however have just one clean sheet in their last five matches and they haven’t been big in attack, failing to score in three of the last five. Away from home, they have just one point in five league games and have failed to score in three of those five.
Everton have struggled in Dominic Calvert Lewin’s absence, especially in attack. They are low scorers but are bound to improve defensively with more defensive players coming back from injury. Crystal Palace aren’t the most reliable of scorers either; they’ve failed to hit the back of the net in the last two matches. We expect a low scoring game here, given their deficiencies in attack, so go for under 2.5 goals.