‘Unbelievable’: Paul Merson stunned by £17m Everton player today

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Everton defender Vitalii Mykolenko earned praise from Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson during the Toffees’ 309 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Frank Lampard’s charges put the Eagles to the sword at Goodison Park to end a run of three defeats in a row.

Everton needed just over 10 minutes to take the lead in the Premier League game as Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored a superb goal.

The Toffees ace picked the ball up from Alexander Iwobi before getting past Marc Guehi and into the box.

Calvert-Lewin then kept his cool to fire past goalkeeper Vicente Guaita and into the bottom corner of the net.

Everton led 1-0 at the break, and Palace had their chances to equalise shortly after the restart.

The Toffees, however, rode out the storm, courtesy of great displays from Mykolenko and Seamus Coleman.

Coleman thwarted Wilfried Zaha in the penalty area with a great sliding tackle.

Meanwhile, Mykolenko helped Everton deny Jordan Ayew and Eberechi Eze.

And Merson loved what he saw, praising both players.

“They’ve come out the traps here, Palace,” he said on Soccer Saturday (22/10, 16:13).

“All Palace at the moment. Great tackle from Coleman on Zaha. Unbelievable defending by Mykolenko on Eze.”

Mykolenko then contributed to Everton’s second in the 63rd minute.

The £17million man’s effort was parried by Guaita into the path of Anthony Gordon, who tapped in.

The officials initially disallowed the goal, but a VAR check resulted in the goal being correctly reinstated.

And in the 83rd minute, Dwight McNeil made it 3-0 for the hosts.

He played a one-two with Iwobi before stroking the ball beyond Guaita.