London is Royal Blue. Brentford, West Ham United and now Crystal Palace - west, east and now south of the capital have been conquered by Sean Dyche's side and Everton’s deserving away fans are finally in a position where they can head south dreaming of three points with belief rather than desperation.

This was not an easy win for Everton. Twice they gave up the lead, Palace repeatedly laid siege to the away side's box and for large portions of this match the momentum was against the visitors. But the resilience and determination injected into this squad by Dyche, his coaching team and the resurgent Dominic Calvert-Lewin suggests anything is possible - even Idrissa Gueye playing a long distance one-two with Abdoulaye Doucoure to burst through on goal and slot in an unlikely winner with all of the composure of a 30-goal-a-season striker.

The scenes that followed were stunning - in the dugout, in the stands and on the Premier League table. Gueye, Doucoure, Amadou Onana, Youssef Chermiti and Arnaut Danjuma were dancing in the dugout. Spirit of the Blues resounded around Selhurst Park from the away end.

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And the Blues all of a sudden, are a fully fledged mid-table team. So often in recent seasons a game against Palace has been a landmark or a turning point - for good and bad. There was the FA Cup hammering under Frank Lampard that said so much about the lack of character undermining his side. Then there was the final game of that same season when survival was clinched amid the drama of a script fit for Hollywood. Last season, when Roy Hodgson’s team visited Goodison just over a year ago, the 3-0 win was the highpoint of Lampard’s career on Merseyside but it soon disintegrated into the cruellest of false dawns.

This time feels so much different. Progress remains fragile for a club with a threadbare squad and demons lurking in the shadows off the pitch. But no-one can talk about success as a one-off. Three times this team has visited London this season. Three times it has won. Dyche is providing hard evidence of sustainable progress and his team ended the game with a comfortable gap separating them from trouble and with a growing acclimatisation to the feeling of a long journey home powered by a win.

That did not always feel likely on a cold, gloomy afternoon on the brink of winter and in the face of a talented opposition and hostile home crowd. When Odsonne Eduoard pounced on an uncharacteristic mistake by James Tarkowski to make it 2-2 there was only one team that looked likely to grab the win. Tarkowski was unfortunate as he allowed a hopeful header to drop over his shoulder but his mistaken belief it would be swept up by Jordan Pickford was exploited by the Palace striker. The centre-back had been immense to that point and continued to thwart attack after attack in the aftermath despite the disappointment he is likely to have felt.

The home side had been pushing for an equaliser after Everton began the second half as they started the first - with a goal. Gueye, a half-time introduction for Onana, sliced a cross into the path of Vitalii Mykolenko, whose volley from the edge of the area hit the post and with goalkeeper Sam Johnstone grounded, Doucoure was first to the rebound.

That started the first wave of second half pressure from a Palace side that received a surge of momentum with the introduction of Michael Olise, who showed no sign of his injury struggles to wreak havoc down Everton’s left. Edouard responded to the first call for help with his goal, but Palace had no answer to Gueye’s final, late, match-winning blow.

The Senegal international’s cool finish sent the Blues into an international break on a high. In a season where momentum has been repeatedly stunted by stoppages for national competitions, that is crucial. The first break began amid concern as Everton had failed to win from the club’s opening five games. The second was filled with relief after a much-needed win over Bournemouth. For Dyche, this break will be filled with satisfaction as he will feel vindicated in the message he has pushed all season regardless of the results - that this is a team moving in the right direction.

The frantic but successful second half followed yet another perfect start by a Dyche team when Mykolenko met a Jack Harrison cross to put the visitors ahead in the opening minutes. The left-back, who scored just his second goal for the club last week, had already had a shot charged down in the Palace box when he met Harrison’s lofted delivery to the back post. As the ball crashed around the area following the initial block, Calvert-Lewin and Doucoure were involved before Harrison was fed down the right and the home stands were silenced.

Just minutes later the those Palace supporters were on their feet after Eberechi Eze wrong-footed Pickford from 12 yards. The young midfielder was the best player on the pitch in the opening 45 minutes but walked a fine line between brilliance and jeopardy. He had won the penalty after it survived a VAR check over the extent of the contact made when Jarrad Branthwaite stuck a leg out in front of the 25-year-old. Shortly after, VAR was involved again as the two players clashed. Eze turned Onana on the byline and ran at Branthwaite before going down again. This time referee Sam Barrott flourished a yellow card and VAR checks upheld the decision not to award a second penalty.

Eze was undeterred and a constant menace, bouncing passes off Will Hughes, Edouard, Jeffrey Schlupp and Jordan Ayew as the Blues resorted to last-ditch tackles and brave blocks to protect their box. James Garner was everywhere as this unfolded, nipping in to steal the ball from the toes of Eze and Edouard but also bursting forward and winning the ball to start a move that ended with an overlapping Ashley Young picking out Dwight McNeil at the back post and the wide man catching his volley flush but hitting it straight at Johnstone. This was a frenetic first half in which Palace found it too easy to penetrate Everton through the middle, however, and Dyche would have been keen to speak to his players at the break.

He also would likely have enjoyed a word with Barrott after he penalised Eze for a cynical trip on Onana but later waved strong claims for a Blues free-kick when Eze appeared to bring down Garner 20 yards from goal. No free-kick was given but there seemed to be comparable contact, or a lack of it, to the penalty awarded to Palace and, had Barrott blown for the foul he would have been hard-pushed to find a reason not to brandish a second yellow.

For all the talk over Dyche’s approach to substitutions since the Brighton & Hove Albion draw last week, his introduction of Gueye at half-time had an impact at both ends of the pitch. He added stability in the middle and played a role in the second goal. That he scored the third not only gave Everton three points - it meant talk of a red card for Eze and a harsh Palace penalty, which so easily could have been the dominant themes of this match, became irrelevant. Who now cares? Everton have three more points. Everton have won in the capital again. Everton are in mid-table. London is Royal Blue.