Carlos Alcaraz snatches late win for Everton against Crystal Palace

Updated: Feb 15, 2025, 04:50 pm

Everton's Premier League revival under manager David Moyes continued on Saturday as they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park thanks to a late winner from January loan signing Carlos Alcaraz.

Moyes' side overcame any fatigue from their dramatic draw with Liverpool on Wednesday and were able to profit twice from some poor Palace defending, with striker Beto bagging his second goal in as many games.

The win pushed Everton up two places to 13th in the table and marked Moyes' fourth win in six league games since returning as manager in early January. They are now equal with Palace on 30 points but one spot behind on goal difference.

"I think Wednesday took so much out of us, today we were sort of fighting," Moyes said. "It took a really resilient performance to make sure we didn't concede a second goal."

It was another poor home performance for Palace who, despite finding some form in recent months, have still only won two of their league matches at Selhurst Park all season.

"It's a very disappointing result," said Palace manager Oliver Glasner. "Now it's again up to us to learn from it and improve."

Carlos Alcaraz won the game for Everton.
Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images

Palace were the better side for the opening half hour but a lapse in concentration from a throw-in allowed new boy Alcaraz to run clear down the right wing and play in Beto, who found the bottom corner in the 42nd minute.

The first half was somewhat short on quality but the second was much more open, helped by Palace bringing on their dynamic attacker Eberechi Eze, who pushed his side forward early on.

Palace kept up the pressure after a corner in the 47th minute and defender Marc Guéhi was able to cleverly flick the ball over Everton's back line to Jean-Philippe Mateta, who duly scored his 11th league goal of the season.

Yet the Eagles undid their good attacking work by failing to clear the ball late on, which allowed Ashley Young a shot on goal before Alcaraz jumped on the resulting loose ball to score the winner in the 80th minute in his first league start since signing from Brazilian side Flamengo.

"I think he did great for us, he got the goal," Moyes said. "I thought he'd started to tire midway through the second half... lucky I didn't take him off."

It capped a great few days for Everton and Moyes, who held league leaders and local rivals Liverpool to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday in the last Merseyside derby to be played at Goodison Park before they move to a new stadium next season.

The result was all the more impressive given the veteran manager's squad is beset with injuries and was further depleted by a suspension for midfielder Abdoulaye Doucouré, who saw red for celebrating in front of the Liverpool fans three days earlier.