It had been nearly five years since Gomes last scored a goal at
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THE last time Andre Gomes had scored at Goodison Park, Marco Silva was the manager, Farhad Moshiri attended matches, and profit and sustainability might have been a comedy double act for all Everton fans knew.
Almost five years later, Gomes finally struck at home again to give the locals a lift as another points deduction rears its threatening head.
It might take the magic of a good lawyer to keep Sean Dyche’s side in the Premier League but at least they still have the magic of the FA Cup and a fourth-round tie against Luton to look forward to. Not that there was anything particularly magical about this victory, about this night.
If Everton are indeed relegated from the Premier League, points deductions will clearly be a decisive factor, but they have also had spells of strictly indifferent form.
Coming into this contest, they had not won in six matches and scored only three goals in that spell. Having a non-scoring flagship striker does not help.
Dominic Calvert-lewin looks less and less predatory, less and less an instinctive finisher, with each game that passes.
At least he had a half-decent effort in a first half-hour that did the same job as the weather. It bored rather than froze you rigid.
There was that Calvert-lewin snapshot that probably did not need to be turned into a corner by Sam Johnstone, and there were a couple of minor opportunities for Eberechi Eze and Jeffrey Schlupp, both wasted with the sort of casual incompetence that characterised proceedings.
And that is why the moment of quality that made the breakthrough was a bolt from the blue.
Naturally, it came from some shoddy Palace work, Jefferson Lerma conceding the free-kick with a desperate challenge on Gomes. But the Gomes set-piece execution from 20 yards was firstclass – right-footed and home via the inside of Johnstone’s left-hand upright (celebrating, right).
Apparently, it is the first time the Toffees have scored directly from a free-kick in 197 games.
Gomes is a classy operator, his fortunes since joining Everton in the summer of 2018, from Barcelona no less, affected by a gruesome ankle injury late the following year.
He came back from that setback more quickly than expected but his confidence had clearly been badly affected.
The 30-year-old Portuguese is short of pace but can see a pass and has a touch of quality that