Allardyce: Our home form has to be maintained

Of their last six games at home, Everton have only lost one. This, however, is in stark contrast with their form away from Goodison Park where they have gone six games without a victory. 

"Our home form is our best way of staying in the top half if we can and first of all avoiding the threat of relegation," said Allardyce, conscious that his side is still just 7 points from the drop.

"Our home form has to be continued with Crystal Palace on Saturday like it was against Leicester. So, when you are looking at our away results, they are not so good. But our home form is pretty good at this point in time," he added. 

The Toffes suffered a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal and their new signings Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who both shone at the Emirates. Allardyce is now hoping the team, and new signing Theo Walcott, can bounce back and beat Crystal Palace when the two sides meet on Saturday.