WORLD-CLASS

five to aim at in the box. He picked out Calvert-Lewin, who thumped his header into the net from close range. Sometimes it is as simple as that.

Two minutes later and, as the Eagles tried to salvage something, Everton broke as Michael Keane sent a ball 75 yards down the pitch, and Tosun, showing brilliant control, raced through to finish with real instinct.

Palace can rightly argue they didn’t get what they deserved. But fortune favours the brave, and a 4-2-4 for the final 10 minutes was brave enough from Everton.

Yet it was Pickford who must take the man-of-thematch award. Two first-half saves from visiting skipper Luka Milivojevic and Cheikhou Kouyate served notice of what was to come, though James Tomkins should have done better with a close-range header.

When the tiring Richarlison gave the ball away after the break, though, the dangerous Wilf Zaha skipped into the box and fell over the otherwise excellent Seamus Coleman for the penalty.

But Pickford stayed as tall as he could for as long as he could and kept out Milivojevic’s effort with a toe. It set up a brilliant, breathless finale and ensured Hodgson again left Merseyside with his tail between his legs.

A familiar story. FROM BACK PAGE memorable penalty shoot-out save against Colombia at the World Cup and Silva believes he now intimidates opponents into missing. “Jordan has this quality, he has this profile now,” the Blues boss said.

“It was an important moment in the match and it changed the game. But I think we deserved to win.”

Palace boss Roy Hodgson refused to point the finger at his captain Milivojevic, saying: “Pickford was very good. It was a good penalty save and he also made two outstanding saves in the first half. We could have had a lead at half-time but for those two incredible saves... and penalties do get missed. Keepers these days make saves.

“It’s always a blow but you do expect some to get saved because of the quality of the keepers.”

Silva was praised for the impact of his substitutions, but said: “It is our job, we are here to make the decisions. Today it was OK – we changed three players and they did really well They are working hard to be in the starting Xl.

“Sometimes you change and it goes well, other times it is not the same result.”