Everton completed a fifth successive victory from the start of a season for the first time in 82 years by beating Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Richarlison expertly converted from the penalty spot, after Cheikhou Kouyate had levelled Dominic Calvert-Lewin's 10th-minute strike, to make it three wins from three in the Premier League for Carlo Ancelotti's team.
Everton defeated Tottenham Hotspur and West Bromwich Albion in their opening two league fixtures and welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Goodison Park next Saturday.
Before attempting to maintain their 100-per-cent Premier League record, the Blues host West Ham United in a Carabao Cup fourth-round tie on Wednesday after seeing off Salford City and Fleetwood Town in the competition so far.
Here we identify some of the main talking points from Everton's latest success, their first at Palace since January 2017.
Cold-Blooded Blues
Crystal Palace can’t say they weren’t warned ahead of Everton’s opening goal.
Minutes earlier, Michael Keane strode from defence and lifted a ball to the right for James Rodriguez, who skilfully delivered a volleyed cross into the middle.
When Andre Gomes took the same route, it was natural to conclude Everton wanted to test young Crystal Palace left-back Tyrick Mitchell, excellent when the London side won at Manchester United last week.
Seamus Coleman – who said this week he expects his goals and assists tally to climb in this enterprising Carlo Ancelotti side – collected Gomes’ pass, directing play back to Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Mitchell stood off Coleman and watched as Doucoure passed to James.
At this juncture, Coleman’s screech for the ball pierced the chill Selhurst Park air.
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Everton’s right-back was motoring, he had the jump on Mitchell and wanted the ball.
James’ pass released Coleman to square for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, peeling off the back of Mamadou Sakho.
Calvert-Lewin shot first-time – following his manager’s orders to take one touch in front of goal – and with enough force to defeat Vicente Guaita despite the goalkeeper getting a meaty touch on the ball.
Everton had spotted a potential weakness and exploited it in the exquisite fashion of a team high on both technical quality and confidence.
Strike Two
In the sense that Crystal Palace had been served notice of a specific threat – right-back Joel Ward, in particular – Everton’s second goal bore some similarities to their first.
Ward had perhaps got away with one when Richarlison’s scooped delivery from the left on 31 minutes struck the defender on the hand.
When Lucas Digne met James Rodriguez’s swept delivery five minutes later, however, Ward instinctively flashed out an arm.
Kevin Friend didn’t spot the infringement but when play finally halted and the referee was invited to review the incident on a pitchside monitor he ruled against Ward.
In the current climate around handballs – Manchester United were awarded a crucial penalty against Brighton & Hove Albion earlier in the day after the ball brushed the unwitting Neal Maupay's hand in the box – the decision was inevitable.
💛 | A winning debut for the new away kit! #CRYEVE @hummel1923 #MoreThanEleven pic.twitter.com/N8x41romwP
— Everton (@Everton) September 26, 2020
Additionally so with Richarlison on the prowl behind Ward and ready to claim possession close to goal.
It was notable, too, how Everton created their opportunity.
Five times against West Bromwich Albion last week James connected with passes from right to left for the effervescent Digne – a continuation from day one at Tottenham Hotspur where the classy duo struck up an instant understanding.
Opponents know what James wants to do and Palace would have studied the videos, no doubt.
Trying to stop an operator of the Colombian’s calibre is much easier said than done, however.
Richarlison’s penalty was one of those where the taker stops and stutters in his run-up.
“It always worries me when people hop and skip and jump and take their time,” reflected former Palace winger Paul Mortimer, summarising for BBC Radio London.
And, he’s right, it is a nervous business watching a player pitter-pattering in his approach to the kick.
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They can do what they want when they finish like Richarlison, though, the Brazilian’s rifled strike into the top corner in stark contrast to his outwardly hesitant run up.
That’s three goals in two games for Richarlison after his midweek double against Fleetwood Town – and a first in the Premier League this season.
A healthy rivalry is developing between Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin.
They were neck-and-neck on 13 Premier League goals and 15 in all competitions last season.
Calvert-Lewin’s strike here was his 29th in the English top-flight. Richarlison moved back within two on 27 when he converted from the spot.
Same Again Carlo
Consistency has been the watchword around Goodison Park this season.
Carlo Ancelotti this week, for example, said Dominic Calvert-Lewin would be bracketed among the game’s elite strikers only when he hits the net game after game – and the player is responding accordingly.
Captain Seamus Coleman maintained nobody at Everton is looking beyond their next match.
“I know it’s boring,” accepted Coleman, “but we can’t get carried away”.
Only, when consistency looks like this it is the opposite of boring.
Attacking with vigour and energy and ambition, defending as if your lives depend on it. No Evertonian will tire of watching that.
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Above all, there can’t be a football player or fan alive who wearies of winning every week.
In his team selections, manager Ancelotti is leading by example.
This was a third league game on the spin when Everton were unchanged.
If that doesn’t sound particularly remarkable, then context is supplied by the fact only twice since the advent of the Premier League 28 years ago have Everton fielded the same starting XI for more than three straight games.
Pre-match the talk was of this being a good temperature test for Ancelotti’s Everton team.
Could they add to wins away and at home to begin the season with a second victory in London and convert a promising start into something steadily more substantial?
“In the past we’ve won a few games then gone on a bad run for two, three, four games so that’s what we need to stop,” asserted Michael Keane.
Certainly, Crystal Palace, off the back of a terrific 3-1 win at Manchester United and with two wins from two themselves, provide a credible test of any team's fortitude.
Palace posed problems with their collection of rapid, imaginative attackers and height and muscle at set-pieces.
⭐️ | So many good performances today, but @jamesdrodriguez gets your @eToro MOTM again!
— Everton (@Everton) September 26, 2020
That pass for the first goal. Pure class. #CRYEVE pic.twitter.com/ZA2zPRoxf5
They didn’t buckle after falling behind.
Everton were asked a lot of questions here and they answered them all very well indeed.
Worth revisiting Keane’s pre-match interview.
“It’s a big test for us today,” concluded the defender, “and if we can make it three wins in a row that will be a brilliant start for us and give us something to kick on from.”
Richi and DCL On Course
He said it with a smile but there was no disputing Carlo Ancelotti meant it when the manager publicly told Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison he expected 20 goals apiece from the pair this season.
Calvert-Lewin will reach his boss’s target in Everton’s 12th game at this rate. Very little chance of that but the 23-year-old is showing no signs of letting up.
He is the Premier League’s top goalscorer with five – four of those five the one-touch finishes Ancelotti urges – and will have his phone switched on when Gareth Southgate announces his next England squad on Thursday.
A case could be made for Richarlison as Everton’s best player in the opening victories over Tottenham and West Brom.
What a start to the season by @Everton 3 games 3 wins 💙💙💙
— TIM CAHILL (@Tim_Cahill) September 26, 2020
All he was missing was a goal. He netted twice at Fleetwood to get off the mark for the season and now he’s up and running in the league, too.
Ancelotti made his 20-goal demand on Friday.
Both players scored on Saturday, perhaps illustrating precisely why Ancelotti was so comfortable gently adding expectation to the shoulders of his two hot shots.
In It Together
The easiest way to create the dressing-room bond every team craves is to win much more often than you lose.
Whatever the impact of Everton's results on the spirit forming in this side, however, there is something more at play.
James Rodriguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure have deservedly gained plaudits for settling overnight into Everton's team following their arrivals on the eve of this campaign.
In a wider context, though, the trio already feel like part of the furniture, adding to the mood around the Club in addition to their evident onfield impacts.
"Seamus is an example for all the others of how you need to be: the attitude, the spirit - every day. I've had a lot of captains in my career but how Seamus expresses his love for the shirt is really top." - @mrancelotti.
— Everton (@Everton) September 26, 2020
Our captain. Our Seamus. 💙#CRYEVE pic.twitter.com/1PCWpwu6pq
When Richarlison buried his penalty and hared off to celebrate the forward was pursued by all nine of his outfield teammates.
But while it was Richarlison assuredly finishing from 12 yards the goal counted as reward for a united Everton effort to follow similar collective displays in beating Tottenham and West Brom.
It should be noted those players Ancelotti brought in for Carabao Cup ties with Salford and Fleetwood were equally banded together and in their individual performances maintained pressure on the men in possession of Premier League starting jerseys.
Whichever direction you diverted your eyes at Selhurst Park there was an Everton player making a meaningful contribution.
James, christened the Assists Man by Carlo Ancelotti this week created another three chances and Doucoure recovered possession nine times in addition to playing eight successful final-third passes.
The excellent Coleman laid on Everton's opening goal and completed three tackles and three clearances, while Lucas Digne's slick interchanging with Richarlsion gave Everton supremacy on the left flank.
Attention on Everton's midfield this term has inevitably surrounded Doucoure and Allan, the Brazilian so adept at taking the heat off his back four, but Andre Gomes stole some of the limelight for himself with a performance which mixed style and steel.
The Portuguese was on point with 91 per cent of his passes, successfully feeding the ball forwards 12 times.
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He won three tackles and recovered possession on five occasions.
Coleman's description of Michael Keane as "rock solid" was accurate . Next to the England international centre-half, Yerry Mina won nine aerial duels, three more than any other player on the pitch.
Jordan Pickford, meanwhile, stood firm under a barrage of second-half set-pieces.
It is a measure of the speed of Everton's burst from the blocks that we must reach back 82 years for comparisons.
It was 1938/39 when Everton last won their opening five games – their first three top-flight opponents were Blackpool, Grimsby Town and Brentford, a different time altogether – and the same period 82 years ago when a Blues player last scored five goals in the first three league matches of a season.
Tommy Lawton netted in each of his next three games, too, wins over Aston Villa, Arsenal and Portsmouth.
Given how he responds to Ancelotti's promptings, perhaps the Italian should relay that detail to Dominic Calvert-Lewin.