Everton Fan View: Something's changed for the Toffees

If any team has been symptomatic of Everton’s struggles in the last few years, it’s been Crystal Palace. Since their reintroduction into to the Premier League in 2013 our record against them had read: played seven, won one. They have been a side that has caused us a lot of anguish, which made getting the win so much sweeter, but also showed signs that things may be changing at the club.

You could argue that Palace were the catalyst for everything going wrong in the first place, on April 16, 2014, Everton were flying high in the league and finishing in the Champions League spots looked very possible. On a horrible night though Everton walked in to three sucker punches and lost 3-2, the Champions League dream was effectively over and the Martinez reign never fully recovered.

In the following season we’d had a slow start, but wins against West Brom and Wolfsburg gave hope that we we’re back on track. However, the score line was another repeat of the 3-2 and the beginning of the end for Tim Howard after an awful display, including giving away a penalty. Following that match in September we went on to lose 3-0 to Swansea as the season went from bad to worse. By the time we beat them in late January, it was all too late as Everton snapped a run of eight matches without a win.

The three matches since then have all been dull draws where Palace have specialised in time wasting to great effect, making you leave the match with a horrible feeling in your stomach. When Tom Davies pinged a perfect pass to Seamus Coleman who drove the ball into the roof of the net, there was a malevolent grin on my face as their time wasting tactics had, for once, failed. Where Everton had been so frustrated in the past, we had now succeeded.

Sport is hard to explain sometimes with the way things can either fall for you or against you. It seems like the win vs Palace wouldn’t have happened in years gone by. There was a confidence in the team that we were always going to get a chance to win the game. When we got the goal, I was less fearful that we were going to give it away. When they got a late corner, instead of another late disaster, Joel Robles jumped high to claim a difficult cross.

Everything around the club is in a better place at the moment. This time last year things were very dark. The manager was failing, our star players were failing and there seemed to be no hope for the future. It seems like in the early part of this season, the club were still trying to shake off the hangover caused by last season. They seem to have shook it off now, with Koeman looking a lot more assured on team selection and formation.

It felt like that Palace result wouldn’t have happened a year ago. Either Everton wouldn’t have scored the goal at all, or if they did, would have conceded a late equaliser. Crystal Palace have caused us a lot of pain in recent years, but something has changed, and it made the win against them all the more pleasurable.