Cruel twist on Merseyside: Palace’s proud 19-game unbeaten run ends despite dominance

Crystal Palace played with authority for 60–70 minutes, led through Daniel Muñoz’s crisp 37th-minute finish and fashioned chances to kill the contest. Yet a late Everton surge overturned them, Iliman Ndiaye equalising from the spot before a freakish 93rd-minute ricochet off Jack Grealish condemned Oliver Glasner’s side to a 2-1 defeat and their first loss since 16 April.

The scale of the run—19 matches without defeat, the longest in over 120 years—made the manner of its end sting even more. Palace’s display promised a first win at Everton in a decade and a leap towards the Premier League’s top positions, but wastefulness at key moments and a cruel finale turned a commanding away performance into heartbreak.

Control without the cushion

From the outset Palace imposed their game. Tyrick Mitchell struck a post and Jordan Pickford was worked by clean, incisive moves that repeatedly opened Everton. Marc Guéhi and Jean-Philippe Mateta drew sharp stops from the Everton goalkeeper on his 300th Premier League appearance.

The opener captured Palace’s cohesion. Ismaïla Sarr released the overlapping Muñoz on the right, and the wing-back’s composed poke made it two goals in two games for him. With Everton subdued and the home crowd restless, Palace looked set for a third straight league win on the road.

Missed chances that changed the script

The match turned not because Palace were outplayed for long spells but because their superiority lacked a second goal. Mateta had one effort cleared from danger when it seemed bound for the net and later sliced wide after a deflection dropped invitingly. He also failed to convert another clear opening, and, shortly after, was replaced to freshen the attack.

Those moments loomed large. Even after Everton introduced Beto and Carlos Alcaraz at the break and raised the tempo, Glasner’s side still carved the clearer chances and, as David Moyes admitted later, could have been “three up.” Without the ruthlessness to finish, however, control became precarious.

A penalty conceded and momentum lost

Everton’s route back arrived from a preventable error. Vitalii Mykolenko’s pass towards Beto was misread by Maxence Lacroix, who then collided with Tim Iroegbunam on his blind side. The penalty was awarded, Ndiaye rolled it beyond Dean Henderson on 76 minutes, and the match’s psychology flipped.

Where Palace had been composed, they were suddenly harried; where Everton had been tentative, they were emboldened by the equaliser and a surging crowd. Glasner’s men have handled the Thursday–Sunday grind admirably in recent weeks, but here the momentum swing took a toll late on.

A harsh finale and a broader picture

In stoppage time Henderson produced a superb point-blank save to deny Beto. What followed was pure misfortune: Muñoz’s clearance smacked into Grealish and flew into the roof of the net for a 93rd-minute winner. Palace’s players sank to their knees, the run gone in the cruelest of ways.

Glasner spoke of pain and progress—how not deciding the game when chances arise remains the missing link for a side that has leapt forward. Context matters: this was a team fresh from a European win in Poland and adorned with recent silverware in the FA Cup and Community Shield, now learning from defeat for the first time since April. The level of performance remained high; the lesson is in finishing.