Last season’s Goodison Park meeting with Palace proved pivotal in avoiding the drop, as Everton came from two goals down, but it was the hosts who took an early lead this time around.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (25) tracked back to win the ball before darting into the box, where he was found by Alex Iwobi (26), calmly picking his spot low to Vicente Guaita’s (35) right - Everton’s first goal in 276 minutes of regulation time.
The Toffees remained in the ascendancy following the breakthrough, looking confident on the ball, with both Demarai Gray (26) and Anthony Gordon (21) coming close to doubling the lead.
The visitors grew into the contest as the half went on, but struggled to create any clear-cut scoring opportunities.
The Eagles began the second half brightly, but the same issues persisted with chances proving hard to come by and that lack of cutting edge came back to haunt Patrick Vieira’s side as Everton hit on the counter.
A dangerous breakaway led by Gray should have served as a warning sign, but minutes later a fast transition resulted in a crucial second when Gordon followed in Guaita’s parry from a Vitalii Mykolenko (23) effort.
The goal was originally ruled offside, but after a VAR check, the game had its second goal and a Palace comeback was looking improbable at best.
Tempers soon flared following a dubious Wilfried Zaha (29) challenge, but that fracas ultimately had no bearing on the result.
With the game all but settled, Everton capped off an admirable performance with another goal.
Dwight McNeil (22) drove at the Palace defence, played a neat one-two with Iwobi, and swept in for 3-0, helping double his side’s previously joint league-low three Premier League home goals in one afternoon.
Having come from behind to win on three separate occasions, Palace were unable to repeat the trick here, losing for just the second time in seven league matches.
