Everton Triumph Over Crystal Palace in Opening Day Victory
Everton have spent a year trying to work out who they are at Hill Dickinson Stadium. On this evidence, they might finally be finding an answer.
David Moyes’ side rode out an early storm, survived two efforts against the woodwork and then punished Crystal Palace with a ruthless 2-0 victory – their first Premier League opening-day win in five years and their first league success in eight matches.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry supplied the goals. Jordan Pickford supplied the defiance. And a ground that often felt uncertain last season suddenly sounded like it believed.
Palace start fast, Everton strike first
Before a ball was kicked, Palace were already handicapped. Ismaila Sarr, their 21-goal top scorer from last season and the spearhead of that Conference League triumph, stayed at home. Pierre Sage, the new man in the dugout after his eye-catching work with RC Lens, chose not to include him in the travelling squad as speculation over a move to Galatasaray rumbles on.
Within four minutes, the absence bit hard.
A weak defensive header from James Tarkowski dropped invitingly into the box. Eddie Nketiah pounced, Jean-Philippe Mateta followed in – and then wasted it, leaning back and blazing over when the goal gaped. It was a huge let-off for Everton and a moment that summed up Palace’s afternoon.
The hosts needed a response and found one. Eight minutes later, Dewsbury-Hall threaded a clever pass into Merlin Rohl, pressed into service as a makeshift right-back. Rohl picked out Iliman Ndiaye, who drove his shot straight at Dean Henderson. Not clinical, but a sign Everton had settled.
Palace, though, kept swinging. Nketiah and Mateta both rattled the frame of the goal as Sage’s side repeatedly carved out chances, only to watch them rebound away. Pickford added a couple of trademark saves, flinging himself around his penalty area to keep Everton afloat.
Then the pressure flipped.
Three minutes before half-time, Dewsbury-Hall finally gave the home crowd what they wanted. Finding space on the edge of the box, he drilled a precise low strike into the far corner, arrowing the ball beyond Henderson’s reach. After all the Palace openings, it was Everton who walked down the tunnel with the lead and the noise.
Barry’s header and a brutal blow for Sage
If Palace hoped the interval would reset the contest, Everton had other ideas.
Eight minutes into the second half, Ndiaye produced a vicious, whipped cross from the left. Barry attacked it with conviction, guiding his header past Henderson from close range to make it 2-0. One sharp delivery, one decisive finish, and the game’s balance tilted heavily towards Moyes’ side.
From there, Palace’s afternoon unravelled.
Midway through the second half, defender Chadi Riad went down in obvious distress. After a long delay, he was carried off on a stretcher, appearing to suffer a serious knee injury. For a team already stripped of its main attacking threat, it was another heavy blow.
On the touchline, Sage could only watch as his first Premier League game in charge of the Eagles slipped away. By the end, he joined an unwanted list: the 15th manager to lose his first league match at the Palace helm.
A new home starts to feel like one
Moyes has never hidden his frustration with Everton’s teething problems at Hill Dickinson. On the eve of this season he likened last year – six wins from 19 home league games – to moving into a new house with only the wallpaper up. The structure was there, the comfort was not.
This felt different.
Everton are still short in obvious areas. They began again without a natural right-back, and the early chaos underlined that vulnerability. Yet the blend of Dewsbury-Hall’s authority in midfield, Barry’s sharpness, Ndiaye’s delivery and Pickford’s saves gave the performance a backbone they too often lacked.
By full-time, the mood had shifted. The seven-match winless run that dragged them to the end of last season was over. The stands on the banks of the Mersey crackled with something rare for this club in recent years: optimism. Add one or two smart signings before the window shuts, and this version of Everton might carry a bit more bite.
Palace face up to transition
For Palace, this was a reminder of how quickly football resets.
They arrive off the back of a remarkable 12 months: three trophies, including the FA Cup, and a surge of momentum under Oliver Glasner. But Glasner has gone. Maxence Lacroix has departed. Sarr may yet follow him out of the door before the deadline.
Even the most hopeful Palace supporter knew some turbulence was coming.
On another day, with Sarr on the pitch and those early efforts an inch lower or inside the post, Sage might have walked down the tunnel grinning, his players dancing their way back to the dressing room. Instead, he trudged away from Merseyside with a stark introduction to the Premier League’s margins – and a clear view of the rebuild in front of him.
Everton, at last, look ready to use their new house. Palace must now decide what kind of team they want to be in theirs.
