Clear. Safe. The words Evertonians never thought they would here. What a comeback this was. From nowhere really. The first 45 minutes was as bad as Everton have been; the second 45 as good as it gets.
From 2-0 down to 3-2 up. From sleepwalking over the canyon to relegation, to one mighty leap to the other side. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s winner was greeted by a foolish pitch invasion, which may bring the attention of the authorities, but the sense of release was overwhelming.
After the second goal the last 15 minutes of the game was played out in a haze of blue smoke, like some illegal rave. The air was acrid, the mood one of total abandon. It had an unhinged feel to it, the final exchanges.
Somehow Everton emerged with their sanity and their place in the Premier League intact.
Everton looked done, at 45 minutes, two goals down and playing abysmally. The second-half was different. Everton slipped into fight mode and Crystal Palace were unable to resist them. They scored three goals, seized the point that lifts them away from Burnley and Leeds who will now fight to the bitter end. Arsenal away is just another fixture.
This wasn’t. This felt like a life or death struggle, and certainly Everton were being measured up by the Co-Op once Jordan Ayew made it 2-0 to Palace. From somewhere, they found the resolve. The goals came not in a glut, but spread through an incredible second-half, the tension building by the minute.
For the first, after 56 minutes, Mason Holgate headed down for Michal Keane who showed excellent poise and balance to prod the ball into the net. For the second, a Seamus Coleman cross should have been cleared before Richarlison hooked the ball past Jack Butland in goal. The third was a free-kick, powered into the net by the head of Calvert-Lewin. The fans came on again at the end, to celebrate 16th. There will be some mockery around that from the red half of this city. Maybe they could share the bus parade.
