Everton up next as Crystal Palace look to push on after first win under Allardyce

It took 6 games, some derby embarrassment and more than one characterless performance but we did it; we finally won under Sam Allardyce.

Though we looked the better side on Tuesday night against Bolton, they gave us a real scare when James Henry inexplicably managed to lob Jules from the edge of the box just after half-time. Sam gave them ten minutes to get back into the game and when that was looking increasingly unlikely he ‘brought on the big guns’ and made the switches that ultimately won us the game.

The difference was Christian Benteke. Loic Remy started the game with Sulley Kaikai in tow and neither had the impact on the game that they would’ve liked. Remy still looks a little short of match fitness, a few loose touches here and there demonstrated he’s not ready to be thrown into the Premier league yet. As for Sulley Kaikai, well for all of his desire and running he just lacked the necessary composure to trouble the scoreboard when he got into the final third.

Benteke’s introduction seemed to return a sense of normality to the way we went forward but, more importantly, his two goals were the reason we won the game. The first was from a Flamini cross, putting the ball between two centre-halves for Benteke to nod beyond Alnwick. The second saw Townsend beat the full back before lifting back for Benteke to volley on the turn, the ball bouncing beyond the diving Alnwick and the sliding man on the line. Both were a little scruffy but a goal is a goal and in our position we’ll take anything we can get.

The win was important, not because it will be a turning point but more because we really couldn’t afford to lose to Bolton. Sam said it best before the game; if we were to lose the game what does that say about the team he put out there? They’re two leagues below us, around 30 positions separate us and our players are on wages the Bolton players can only dream of – we should have had the quality to win that game. By extension, it doesn’t bear thinking about what a loss would have done for the confidence of both the players and the fans, however thankfully we don’t have to think about it and we can move onto Everton.

Everton are going to be a tough test for us, make no mistake about it. They snatched the headlines last weekend by giving Manchester City a thumping in a game which saw them have less than a third of the ball. This weekend will be a different challenge for them which will make for a very different game. Even though it’s at Selhurst Park I’d expect Everton to have the bulk of the possession, especially if Allardyce decides his selection based on nullifying Everton as opposed to maximising Palace’s attacking strengths.

Everton aren’t unbeatable though and if I were to highlight one weakness of Everton, looking purely at the results, it would be their ability to beat those below them. Since the start of the season that have drawn with ourselves, Hull and Swansea while they lost to Watford. Two of those four are in the bottom three and three of those four are in the bottom four. From an Everton perspective, for a team in seventh and chasing the coat tails of Manchester United, they should be winning games like that.

Win those games and they’d find themselves with an additional nine points, the same number as Manchester City in 5th – these are the margins they will need to close. All that bodes well for us however, and we have had a reasonable run against Everton in the last couple of seasons so though it’s a tough test, it’s by no means a certain loss.

As for the team selection, well a lot of it will depend on fitness. After last weekend Sam has a decision to make regarding the goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey’s lack of assertiveness is becoming more obvious as every weekend passes and Allardyce will not have missed that. Mandanda is back in training but this weekend will come too soon for him I would imagine, meaning the decision has to be made between Julian or Hennessey. We’ve only seen Speroni in a couple of cup games so it’s hard to gauge whether he’s still at the level required for a Premier League appearance, only Sam and his team will know that. I’m not sure whether he could do any worse than Hennessey if I’m being honest, he could bring a calm and confidence that the back four have been missing

Mathieu Flamini is one player who should start after a commanding performance against Bolton. He’s had a couple of off games in a Palace shirt but in general, every time I see him I am impressed; his experience and footballing intelligence is invaluable. New signing Jeffery Schlupp stands a chance of starting after a week at the club, giving us a naturally left sided player to potentially play opposite to Andros Townsend this weekend. There are some conflicting views from Leicester fans about Schlupp’s ability, so we’ll really have to wait and see but nonetheless he is another option in the wide areas.