Everton boss Marco Silva feels his side deserved their hard-fought 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at Goodison Park.
It was an even encounter for most of the game and Palace looked to be set to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty on the hour mark, although Luka Milivojevic’s spot kick was saved by England ‘keeper Jordan Pickford.
As the game entered its final stages it looked like ending in statement until all three of Silva’s second-half substitutes stepped up to make the difference.
First, Ademola Lookman’s perfectly weighted cross was headed home by Dominic Calvert-Lewin from close range on 87 minutes, before Cenk Tosun finished cooly on the break just two minutes later, leaving Marco Silva to say that the result was nothing less than what Everton deserved.
“A tough game, like we expected and like I told our players as well. Palace are well organised, waiting for our mistakes and on the counter-attack with Zaha and Townsend,” Silva told Sky Sports.
“We were too slow in the first half, but we pushed them back in the second half. They missed the penalty, a good save, but in the end we deserved the three points.
“Jordan Pickford has the quality to play at a higher level, helping us and the national team as well. He is there to help the team and at that moment he helped.
“We [the staff] are here to make decisions, it is not just the starting XI. The three players who came on were aggressive, it is really good and I’m very happy for them.
“We have solutions on the bench.”
Everton now move up eighth in the table after their third successive Premier League win, and face Manchester United next weekend at Old Trafford.