Charly Alcaraz snatches late winner for Everton against Crystal Palace

Charly Alcaraz netted a late winner on his first start to inspire Everton to a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Beto continued his fine form under Toffees boss David Moyes with a 42nd-minute opener against the run of play.

That goal was cancelled out by Jean-Philippe Mateta two minutes after the restart, but Alcaraz assured the visitors of all three points 10 minutes from time.

Mateta failed to punish some sloppy work by the Toffees’ centre-halves early on when a misplaced flick from James Tarkowski then skipped past the outstretched leg of Jarrad Branthwaite.

But Mateta fired directly at keeper Jordan Pickford, who then denied Northern Ireland international Justin Devenny’s effort from distance, spilling his save.

The hosts came even closer in the 19th minute when captain Marc Guehi called Pickford back into action with a low header.

Lerma had the ball in the back of the net moments later, but a VAR check determined Devenny’s corner had drifted out of play before the Colombian nodded it in.

Everton tried to string something together and worked the ball to Jesper Lindstrom, who then attempted to square to Beto.

The threat was broken up by Palace defender Maxence Lacroix, who collided with his keeper in the process, but Dean Henderson was deemed fit to continue after treatment.

It was some scrappy work from Chris Richards that nearly set the home side up to take a first-half lead, clinging on to possession from his knees at the edge of Everton’s 18-yard box.

The ball made its way to Ismaila Sarr, who hammered his effort off the underside of the crossbar.

And it was a missed opportunity Palace would come to instantly regret when poor communication resulted in Tyrick Mitchell’s throw-in escaping Lerma’s