Everton Secures Convincing Win Against Crystal Palace
Andy Burnham took his place in the plush seats at Hill Dickinson Stadium, watching the club he grew up with step into a new season minus the reinforcements everyone had been talking about, right up to the Prime Minister. No new right-back. No new centre-forward. No safety net.
Everton didn’t seem to care.
They rode their luck, punished a wasteful Crystal Palace and walked away with a win that grew more convincing as the afternoon wore on.
Palace waste their moment
For Pierre Sage, this was a harsh first taste of the Premier League. His Palace side arrived with familiar structure, familiar patterns, and the same old problem that dogged the Oliver Glasner era: no cutting edge when it mattered.
The visitors carved out three clear chances before Everton landed a punch. They squandered every one.
Inside three minutes, James Tarkowski, Everton’s new captain, misjudged a header and opened the door. Eddie Nketiah burst clear down the left and slid the ball into Jean-Philippe Mateta’s path at the near post. The finish should have matched the move. Instead, Mateta volleyed over from close range and the first warning went unheeded.
Then came Adam Wharton’s moment of class. The midfielder, who Sage insists will not be leaving despite Manchester City circling, dropped a perfectly weighted ball over Merlin Röhl, the young German pressed into emergency duty at right-back while Everton’s search for Seamus Coleman’s successor drags on. Nketiah had time, space and the angle. Jordan Pickford read it, flung out a strong left hand and diverted the shot onto his post.
The same upright bailed Everton out again. Wharton combined with Dwight McNeil and Nketiah to carve Everton open, Mateta stretching to prod past Pickford, only for the ball to thud against the woodwork. Three big chances, no reward. The sense of an Everton escape grew with every miss.
Sage’s problems deepened later with a potentially serious injury to defender Chadi Riad. On opening day, it felt brutal.
Dewsbury-Hall takes control
Everton, initially second best, began to find their rhythm. New signings Hayden Hackney, Tyrique George and Röhl settled, and the home side started to stitch moves together rather than simply survive.
Their first real threat came when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall slid a clever pass into Röhl, who squared for Iliman Ndiaye. Dean Henderson reacted sharply in the Palace goal to block, but that attack hinted at a shift. George kept probing down the left, even if the final ball often fell short. Gradually, Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye began to dictate the tempo.
Then Dewsbury-Hall lit the place up.
He surged through midfield on a mazy run, his shot striking Chris Richards and sparking appeals for handball. Referee unmoved, play flowed the other way through Daniel Muñoz – a player Everton have looked at to finally solve that right-back vacancy. Harrison Armstrong refused to let him out. The Everton midfielder snapped into the challenge, won it, and suddenly there was space where Muñoz had vacated.
Armstrong found Dewsbury-Hall, 27 years old and unmarked, drifting into that gap. One touch to set, one to finish. He whipped a fierce, angled drive beyond Henderson and into the far corner. Resentment from the way last season ended? Gone in an instant, replaced by the roar of a fanbase seeing a new midfielder announce himself in style.
Palace still had their moments. Muñoz ghosted in front of George to meet a fine cross from Daichi Kamada, only to steer his header wide of the far post. Again, the build-up looked slick. Again, the final act failed to land.
Everton, by contrast, made their big moments count.
