At the start of September the unwelcome international break arrived like a night-time knock on the door, interruptive and annoying.

I was away on holiday for the Burnley home game, distantly keeping up to date with the stalemate on Twitter.

Those disturbances have meant the two defeats, two draws and solitary [League Cup] win have felt like a campaign spluttering in fits and starts.

So it’s with relief and nervous anticipation I awaited this weekend, finally Palace were moving into a busy period, with four games in 13 days.

The only problem was it all began with an intimidating trip to Everton.

With 19 per cent possession and a 1-0 deficit within the first 15 minutes it was looking bleak.

However, through a stonewall penalty, Palace impressively clawed back to 1-1 at half time.

The second half was Palace in a nutshell.

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Great counter-attacking, dedicated defending, opportunistic goals, a clumsy penalty conceded and a nail-biting conclusion.

The most uncharacteristic element was heading back down south with three goals and three points.

Neil Warnock's no tactical genius, but lining up with Jedinak, James McArthur and Joe Ledley in the centre and Fraizer Campbell at the top eventually proved solid and effective.

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Ledley was injured last week, but here his composure, touch and passing helped link the lone striker with the rest of the team, gave the Eagles more power on the attack and aided Jedinak and McArthur in defence.

At Goodison Park the substitutions made more sense than against the Clarets too.

Adlène Guedioura for McArthur was an energetic like-for-like change when the side needed reinforcing, before both Kevin Doyle and Zeki Fryers were sensibly introduced at 3-2 to replace the exhausted Bolasie and Campbell.

Bolasie and Jason Puncheon were on fire, working extremely hard while offering rapid creative bursts.

In particular, Yannick tore John Stones apart and had an outstanding game, rewarded with a very rare goal.

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There are huge gaps in his game and maybe always will be, but Jedinak’s performance read like one long apology letter for the mistakes and sloppiness at Selhurst last week.

He even scored a fine penalty to make amends for the spot kick against Burnley.

As Everton huffed and puffed, the game seemed like one tense finale. Suddenly, out of nothing, Guedioura coming closest to finding the back of the net with a lovely, forceful break.

This remarkable and brilliant victory doesn’t mean everything is fine. The Toffees could have been 3-0 up before the 20-minute mark.

But it does go to show that the spirit and skill we saw so often in the final months of the last campaign are not lurking far under the surface.

Palace now head into the midweek cup game and the home clash with Leicester filled with optimism and momentum. At long last.

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New man: Kevin Doyle in Palace colours

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