Everton vs Crystal Palace preview

Team news, key stats and ways to follow ahead of Everton vs Crystal Palace on Saturday (Kick-off 12.30pm).

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Team news

Everton midfielder Fabian Delph misses the visit of Crystal Palace as he serves a one-match suspension after his red card at Watford last weekend.

With Andre Gomes (ankle) and Jean-Philippe Gbamin (thigh) still out injured, Carlo Ancelotti has only three fit central midfielders, with Tom Davies, Morgan Schneiderlin and Gylfi Sigurdsson competing for two places.

Gomes is set to play in a friendly in the lead up to Everton's match at Arsenal on February 23, while Ancelotti hopes to have Gbamin back before the end of the season.

Crystal Palace forward Cenk Tosun, on-loan from Everton, will be ineligible to face his parent club on Saturday, but would have been unavailable anyway with a hamstring injury.

Mamadou Sakho (hamstring) and Jeffrey Schlupp (hip) both remain absent for Roy Hodgson ahead of the trip to Merseyside.

The versatile Martin Kelly will also miss the clash at Everton after suffering a calf injury, but he is not expected to be sidelined for long.

How to follow

Follow the match in our dedicated live blog, with highlights published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel from 5.15pm.

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Opta stats

• Everton are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League meetings with Crystal Palace (W4 D6), keeping a clean sheet in each of the last three.
• Four of Crystal Palace's five Premier League wins against Everton have been at Goodison Park (80%), though their last win there was in September 2014. At no side have they won more Premier League away games as they have against the Toffees (also 4 vs Leicester).
• After losing eight of their last 11 Premier League games under Marco Silva (W2 D1), Everton have lost just one of their last 10 under Duncan Ferguson/Carlo Ancelotti (W5 D4). Indeed, only Liverpool (30) have won more points over their last 10 Premier League games than Everton (19).
• Crystal Palace have won just one of their last 10 Premier League games (D6 L3), with the Eagles winless in six since beating West Ham in December (D4 L2).
• Crystal Palace are without a clean sheet in nine Premier League games, the longest current run in the competition. However, the Eagles have only conceded more than once in two of those nine games.

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Charlie's prediction

I watched Everton again last week against Watford. I do not know how they won. When they were 2-0 down, they were absolutely abysmal. Carlo Ancelotti did not do anything magical, but before half-time they get two in three minutes - a real 'get out of jail' card before Theo Walcott nicked it.

The form of Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been promising, while Walcott has improved, with his pace and movement a constant threat. Richarlison is down the left and they have some tidy enough midfielders to complement their attack but it is the defence that is the worry. They look so vulnerable. Jordan Pickford cannot be branded as England's No 1. He looks off it.

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The home games seem to be the issue. Roy Hodgson is clever enough to structure his team to sit in and bide their time, hitting them with the pace on the counter-attack.

Crystal Palace tend to enjoy these games, but where are the goals coming from? Cenk Tosun cannot play as he is on loan from Everton and he has looked the most promising. Somewhere along the line, Christian Benteke has to get a goal. Could it be written for Benteke, being ex-Liverpool?

CHARLIE PREDICTS: Everton 1-1 Crystal Palace (11/2 with Sky Bet)

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