Key events
Meet the new manager. Heâs not the same as the old manager.
Glasnerâs on-pitch vision can be traced to his time working for Red Bull. He spent two years as an assistant coach at Salzburg under Roger Schmidt, who went on to manage Bayer Leverkusen, PSV and Benfica. Although the formation is important to Glasner, his style is based more around the behaviour of players when it comes to understanding the high press and counterpress.
Ed Aarons on a sad end to Roy Hodgsonâs managerial career
Team news: Doucoure starts for Everton
Very good news for Everton: their top scorer Abdoulaye Doucoure returns to the starting XI after injury. He replaces Jack Harrison in the only change from last weekendâs defeat at Manchester City.
Crystal Palace bring in Sam Johnstone, Joel Ward and Odsonne Edouard for Dean Henderson, Will Hughes and Matheus Franca. That might mean a switch to a back five, which is how Palace played at Goodison in the FA Cup last month; either that or Chris Richards will move into midfield
Everton (4-2-3-1) Pickford; Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner; Young, Doucoure, McNeil; Calvert-Lewin.
Substitutes: Virginia, Lonergan, Patterson, Keane, Onana, Harrison, Beto, Chermiti, Dobbin.
Crystal Palace (possible 5-4-1) Johnstone; Munoz, Ward, Andersen, Richards Mitchell; Ayew, Wharton, Lerma, Edouard; Mateta.
Substitutes: Henderson, Tomkins, Franca, Clyne, Ahamada, Riedewald, Ozoh, Umeh, Raymond.
Referee Paul Tierney.
Preamble
Donât you hate it when a football match interrupts the news cycle? Everton and Crystal Palace are competing for headlines as well as points, and there has never been a Premier League game with a build-up quite like this. One team is about to hear whether their appeal against a 10-point deduction has been successful; the other appointed a new manager a few hours before kick-off.
The news cycle can wait for a few hours. This is a really big game: not quite a six-pointer but one of the more important matches in the relegation mini-league that has formed at the bottom of the Premier League. Everton will move out of the bottom three and to within two points of Palace if they win tonight. That would make things Spandex-tight between 14th and 18th. A win for Palace, on the other hand, would put them eight points clear of Everton and seven of Luton. Not quite safe, but with less of a compulsion to look over their shoulder every few minutes.
In a sense itâs a battle of the beleaguered. Everton have had a siege mentality since they were deducted 10 points in November; the result of their appeal will reportedly be announced in the next 48 hours. They havenât won a Premier League game in over two months, though their fixture list in that time has been on the fiendish side of difficult.
Palace have conceded nine goals in their last two away games and will be without their best two players, Michael Olise and Ebere Eze tonight. With Roy Hodgsonâs fine career coming to a sad end, Paddy McCarthy and Ray Lewington will look after the team tonight.
Glasner, who won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022, is expected to watch the game from the stands. A win for Palace would make his in-tray feel a whole lot lighter.
Kick off 8pm.
