(Football news) As they were eliminated in the third round by Southampton and Manchester United, respectively, the Eagles and the Toffees will be looking to improve on their performances from the previous season’s campaign. Last Saturday at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace defeated Brentford 3-1 after going through a terrible eight-game Premier League losing streak. It was a great way to close 2023 for the team.
After a goal from Keane Lewis-Potter put the Eagles behind within the first two minutes, Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze scored twice more to assist the home team win three crucial points and relieve some of the burden on manager Roy Hodgson.
In addition to moving six points clear of the relegation zone, 14th-placed Palace also won three of the six games against the six teams that were behind them in the standings, with the exception of 18th-placed Luton Town, who still had one game remaining.
Prior to gearing up for their upcoming Premier League match against Arsenal on January 20, Palace will concentrate on the FA Cup. They have had varying degrees of success in this competition in the past few years, having advanced to the semifinals in 2021–22 but losing in the third round in four of the previous six.
In their most recent FA Cup match, which took place in March 2022, the Eagles defeated the Toffees 4-0 at home. However, in their prior six FA Cup matches, the team has only advanced from two of these matches.
Approaching the holiday season with seven wins out of nine in all competitions, Everton appeared to be turning the corner under manager Sean Dyche. However, they finished 2023 with four straight losses in a 12-day span, giving up nine goals in the process.
Following a heartbreaking 3-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers on the road last Saturday, in which the Toffees failed to score on any of their ten attempts on goal, Fulham suffered three straight Premier League losses, including a penalty-shootout loss at home in the EFL Cup.
After that, Dyche’s team is still in 16th place in the Premier League standings, just one point above the relegation zone. As was already mentioned, Luton has a game coming up, and their upcoming top-flight schedule is difficult to say the least, with Aston Villa, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester City among their next four opponents.
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