The Croydon Invincibles are no more. Crystal Palace’s unbeaten run had spanned seasons, taken them to Norway and Poland, incorporated five competitions from the Community Shield to the Europa Conference League, but finally it is over. The scourge of Liverpool encountered their bogey team on Merseyside. Threatened with the loss of their own undefeated status, at their new stadium, Everton mounted a comeback. For the first time since April, Palace lost. For the first since April, Jack Grealish scored.
And Oliver Glasner’s army finally fell to defeat, when they could have sealed a victory that was theirs for the taking. Perhaps this was an illustration of the difficulties of competing in Europe: Palace had beaten Dynamo Kyiv near the Ukrainian border on Thursday. On the banks of the Mersey, Glasner said: “I have seen 60-70 minutes of fantastic performance.”
