Everton vs Crystal Palace: Moyes Returns and Sage's Premier League Debut
The Premier League calendar says “Matchday 1”, but this feels bigger than that on Merseyside.
Everton launch their 2026/27 campaign at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, August 22, welcoming Crystal Palace for a lunchtime kick-off at 10:00 a.m. (ET) in a game that doubles as David Moyes’ first step back in the Goodison orbit and Pierre Sage’s first in England’s top flight.
Two new eras. One impatient crowd.
How to watch in the United States
For fans in the U.S., this one is easy to find. Everton vs Crystal Palace will be broadcast live on:
- UNIVERSO
- USA Network
It will also be available via live stream on:
- Fubo
- DirecTV Stream
- Sling TV
Moyes back in blue, and a squad still in motion
Moyes starts his second Everton chapter with a fixture that already carries weight. The club want a clean break from recent relegation battles; the supporters want a team that looks like Everton again – aggressive, organised, awkward to play against.
He will lean on familiar Premier League steel to get there.
Jordan Pickford anchors a projected XI, with a back four of Jarrad Branthwaite, James Tarkowski, Vitaliy Mykolenko and Jake O'Brien. It’s a group built for aerial duels and penalty-box defending, but it will be asked to do more than just survive.
In midfield, Harrison Armstrong, Merlin Roehl and Hayden Hackney are set to form the engine room. Ahead of them, Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are expected to support striker Thierno Barry, tasked with giving Everton a sharper edge in the final third.
They will have to manage without James Garner, Tim Iroegbunam and Christian Noergaard, all ruled out through injury. No suspensions cloud Moyes’ selection, but the backdrop of the transfer market certainly does.
Everton remain in dialogue over a potential move for Jack Grealish, with chief executive Angus Kinnear confirming contact with Manchester City over the winger. Whether that story explodes into reality before the window closes is another matter, yet even the possibility hangs over this opener. The squad is settled enough to compete; it might not be finished.
Sage steps into the spotlight
On the opposite bench, Pierre Sage walks into the Premier League with a clear idea of what he wants Crystal Palace to be. The Frenchman inherits a squad with quality in key areas and has already started to shape it.
Walter Benitez is set to start in goal, protected by a back line of Jaydee Canvot, Chadi Riad, Chris Richards and Tyrick Mitchell. It’s a unit that will need to be compact and disciplined from the first whistle, especially against a home crowd desperate for early momentum.
Ahead of them, Sage has options and weapons. Ismaila Sarr, Dwight McNeil, Daichi Kamada, Adam Wharton and Oscar Mingueza are projected to operate across midfield and wide areas, feeding Joergen Strand Larsen as the focal point in attack.
Dean Henderson is the only listed absentee through injury, leaving Palace otherwise at full strength and with no suspensions to navigate.
The transfer noise around Selhurst Park has been loud. Manchester City tested Palace’s resolve with an approach for Adam Wharton, only to be firmly rebuffed. Sage has been clear: the England international is not available this summer. At the back, the club are closing in on a season-long loan for Chelsea centre-back Axel Disasi, a move designed to stiffen a defence that will face plenty of stress away from home.
Pre-season hints, not answers
Both clubs arrive at opening day with records that raise as many questions as they answer.
Everton went 2-2-1 across their five pre-season matches. A 1-1 draw with Lille on August 15 rounded off the schedule, while a 3-1 win over Newcastle stood out as their most convincing display. They also beat Hamburger SV 2-1 in Germany, but defeats to VfB Stuttgart (3-1) and Stoke City (1-0) exposed defensive lapses, with six goals conceded across those two losses alone.
Crystal Palace’s summer told a similarly uneven story. They finished 2-1-2, but the final impression was a heavy one: a 3-0 defeat to Freiburg on August 15. Before that, they had beaten Fulham 2-1 and Al-Ula FC 3-1, showing flashes of attacking promise. A 3-0 loss to Lens and a 0-0 draw with Famalicao completed a run that yielded six goals scored and seven conceded.
So both arrive slightly bruised, neither fully sure of their level until the real stuff starts.
A recent rivalry tilting Everton’s way
History, at least in the short term, leans blue.
The last meeting between these sides ended 2-2 at Selhurst Park on May 10, 2026, a chaotic draw that underlined how little separates them on certain days. Yet across the last five Premier League clashes, Everton have taken control: three wins, two draws, no Palace victories.
The Toffees have scored nine times in those games to Palace’s seven, and Hill Dickinson Stadium has not been kind to the visitors. Everton have won both league encounters at their new home by the same 2-1 scoreline, in September 2024 and October 2025.
Crystal Palace do arrive nominally ahead in the table – eighth, with Everton ninth – but that’s a quirk of the early-season standings more than anything else. This is a straight shootout for early rhythm.
What this opener really means
Strip away the transfer talk and tactical diagrams and the stakes are simple.
For Moyes, this is a chance to stamp authority immediately, to show that Everton under his watch will be organised, hard-running and ruthless in key moments. A sluggish home performance would drain optimism fast.
For Sage, it is a first test of his principles under Premier League glare. Can Palace be brave on the ball, compact without it and clinical when chances fall to Strand Larsen and company? Can they carry the defiance shown in keeping Wharton into the way they play?
The season is young. The questions are not.
