McNeil double earns Everton season’s first Premier League win

Everton finally clinched their first Premier League win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, thanks to Dwight McNeil’s two quick goals early in the second half.

Captain, Marc Guehi had given Palace an early lead in the 10th minute, but Everton responded strongly after the break.

McNeil’s first goal came just over a minute into the second half (47th), curling a shot from 25 yards. His second followed soon after, capitalising on a cross from Jack Harrison (54th).

Manager Sean Dyche expressed relief, noting, “It’s great to see the resilience and spirit of the lads after recent results. McNeil showed real quality today, and we finally turned our chances into a much-needed win.”

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner, however, lamented the missed opportunity, saying, “We had control in the first half, but we let the game slip. It’s frustrating to lose like this when we started so well.”

This win was particularly significant for Everton, who had not recorded a single win in the first five games of the 2024/25 EPL season.

The result lifted the team out of the relegation zone, while Crystal Palace remained winless despite their early dominance.

Everton, so far, had won one game, drew one and lost four.

Earlier this week, on Monday, in a significant development for the club, Blue Heaven Holdings and The Friedkin Group confirmed that they reached an agreement for the sale of Blue Heaven’s majority stake in the club.

On September 17, Everton crashed out of the Carabao Cup in the third round on penalties against Southampton losing 6-5 after finishing the game 1-1 at full time.

-Post-match stats-

In the match between Everton and Crystal Palace, the teams displayed contrasting styles reflected in the stats.

Everton managed only 40 per cent possession compared to Palace’s dominant 60 per cent. This imbalance extended to passing, where Everton completed 345 passes with 74 per cent accuracy, while Palace had 521 passes at 81 per cent accuracy.

However, Palace’s control of possession did not translate into goals, as Everton scored twice from just 2 shots on target out of 8 total attempts. In contrast, Palace had 5 shots on target from a total of 17 attempts, but could only score once.

Both teams committed a similar number of fouls, with Everton at 13 and Palace at 11. Everton received two yellow cards, while no cards were issued to Palace. In terms of set pieces, Palace had an advantage in corners, winning eight compared to Everton’s five.