BETTER SAY Toothless Palace face a long, hard

CRYSTAL PALACE may still have Wilfried Zaha but it might only be for a few more months.

And regardless of whether he stays or goes, Palace are in for another tough season if yesterday was to go by.

The Eagles managed just 19 home league goals last term and very little has changed this time.

The only time Palace fans celebrated was when Zaha climbed off the bench 25 minutes from time.

But not even their talisman, who failed to move to Everton on deadline day, could prevent another goalless draw between these sides just like in April.

Toffees boss Marco Silva failed in several bids for Zaha but may still up his offer further past the £ 60million mark in January. Asked if Everton could rekindle their interest in Zaha ( below), Silva said: “The market finished last Thursday and now you are asking me.

“The most important thing is the players we have in the squad.

“We have a young, strong squad, that’s in my mind, nothing about the market or the players we missed. In this game we had to do a job on Zaha and we did well.”

Zaha, who was also hindered by a late return from the Africa Cup of

Nations, was lively throughout his cameo and came close to scrambling home a late winner.

Pal a c e boss Roy Hodgson was at least happy with his commitment despite handing in a transfer request and missing training on Thursday, along with the fans’ reaction.

The ex-england chief said: “He handled it very well but the crowd helped, it was such a great reception.

“It was nice to have him available to give another dimension.

“He was excellent this morning, no problem at all as you can tell by watching the game. That situation has been and gone and Wilf will make certain he brings his straw to the water and help us have a good season, just like he has done in the previous two.

“I don’t worry about January, I’ll worry about January on December 31. I don’t even know what we’re doing in September!

“He’s a little bit rusty, when a player comes back from three weeks away he’s going to take a bit of time to find his true form. He’s phenomenal when it comes to fitness, but to find the form it will take a week or two.”

The Toffees held on despite Morgan Schneiderlin’s 76thminute dismissal for a second booking for fouling Luca Miliovojevic.

Earlier they were indebted to two Jordan Pickford super stops