Palace 0 – 0 Everton
Everton and Crystal Palace must do it all again in the FA Cup Third Round after this evening’s tie at Selhurst Park ended goalless but was also beset by controversy following the staggering decision to send off Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The Blues had carried the greater threat all evening but had struggled to turn their superiority into a crucial goal before referee Chris Kavanagh, at the prompting of Video Assistant Referee, Craig Pawson, opted to show Calvert-Lewin a straight red card for a fair-looking tackle on Nathaniel Clyne in the 79th minute.
Sean Dyche’s men held off their hosts for the remaining 20 minutes of play to earn a replay at Goodison Park but not without the potential cost of a three-game ban for Calvert-Lewin and a significant injury to Dwight McNeil, who was stretchered down the tunnel in the closing stages.
Despite the clear toll that a gruelling December campaign had had on his squad, Dyche went with a strong line-up to face the Eagles, with all but three of his regulars named in the starting XI.
Seamus Coleman came in for his first start since the Newcastle home game a month ago, Arnaut Danjuma was deployed wide on the left and Joao Virginia made only his third start for Everton in goal in place of Jordan Pickford who was rested.
The Portuguese was called upon early to find his feet when Jeffrey Schlupp bounced a shot his way in the third minute but it was the visitors who began to assume control of the contest as the first half wore on.
Coleman eschewed the chance to shoot and worked it to Calvert-Lewin instead, the latter feeding Danjuma whose drilled shot took a crucial deflection off a defender that sent it crashing into the side-netting with 16 minutes gone.
Three minutes later, Jack Harrison slipped the Dutchman in in a similar position but this time he produced an excellent save from Dean Henderson who readjusted his body in time to palm the effort over his crossbar.
The former Manchester United goalkeeper had to be alert six minutes later when James Garner’s scuffed corner was sneaking in but Henderson kicked it clear off his goal line and Garner’s goal-bound shot five minutes before the break was cut out by Joachim Andersen.
At the other end, Eberechi Eze was handed a direct free-kick opportunity when James Tarkowski was adjudged to have fouled Matheus França on the edge of the Blues’ penalty area but, thankfully he blazed his shot over.
Schlupp’s deflected cross a few minutes later was hacked away from danger by Vitalii Mykolenko and the hosts’ best move of the half saw Eze move Jean-Philippe Mateta’s dummy on to Jefferson Lerma but he blasted high into the stand behind the goal.
Neither side made any changes at the halfway stage but Palace finally gave Virginia a genuine test five minutes into the second half after Garner’s attempted curler had drifted wide for Everton.
Eze lined up a strong drive that the Toffees’ keeper parried behind smartly and from the resulting corner, Virginia caught Lerma’s header under his crossbar.
Just past the hour mark, Calvert-Lewin was played in for his best chance of the game but he shot weakly from an angle and Henderson smothered it comfortably and Danjuma had a snapshot saved as well when he drove it straight at the keeper.
In between, from one of Everton’s seven corners on the night, McNeil’s deep cross had found Tarkowski at the back post and his header back across goal presented Amadou Onana with a presentable opportunity to hit the target but he powered his header too high.
The game changed with 11 minutes left of the 90, though, when McNeil lofted a ball forward towards Calvert-Lewin and when the second ball dropped away from his aerial challenge with Andersen, the striker slid in to successfully win the ball and control it between his legs before laying it off to McNeil who had made the ground in the interim.
Calvert-Lewin’s boot had caught Clyne’s shin in passing, however, leaving the full-back writhing in the turf, but Kavanagh had deemed it accidental and legal before Pawson intervened. The trip to the monitor signalled that an on-the-pitch decision was about to be reversed and the Everton No 9 was sent off to the amazement of the 4,000 Blues in the away end.
Naouirou Ahamada came off the bench for Roy Hodgson’s team and shot wide, before Eze brought the ball down adeptly and saw his shot blocked behind by Tarkowski but from the resulting corner, McNeil went down in a heap behind the byline in obvious distress.
The game went on with Everton down to nine men and the winger’s leg was strapped to a brace but, either side of that sequence, the visitors will feel they had excellent chances to win it.
First, substitute Beto, who had a shout for a penalty ignored when Andersen held him back, centred for Garner but the midfielder somehow skied the ball high over the bar from near the penalty spot. Then, in stoppage time, the ball arrived at a tempting height in the box for Harrison but he couldn’t keep his volley down either.
The final action of the game saw Eze drive a low shot towards the far post that Virginia finger-tipped behind at full stretch before Kavanagh blew for full-time.