Everton Secure Opening-Day Victory Over Crystal Palace

Everton have spent a year learning how to live in their new home. On Saturday, it finally sounded like one.

Under the glare at Hill Dickinson Stadium, David Moyes’ side rode out an early storm, leaned on Jordan Pickford’s reflexes and the sharpness of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry, and beat Crystal Palace 2-0 to claim their first Premier League opening-day victory in five years.

For a club that staggered to the finish line last season, it felt like a line in the sand.

Early chaos, early warning

Before Everton had settled, they were almost behind.

With less than four minutes gone, James Tarkowski’s weak defensive header dropped horribly for Eddie Nketiah. He reacted first, fed Jean-Philippe Mateta, and the forward, with the goal gaping inside the area, thrashed his effort over. Palace, missing last season’s 21-goal talisman Ismaila Sarr, still carved out the kind of chance that usually silences a home crowd.

Sarr, left out of the travelling squad by new manager Pierre Sage amid ongoing links to Galatasaray, hovered over the afternoon without kicking a ball. His absence was a selection call. It also became a storyline.

The miss jolted Everton. Eight minutes later they stitched together their first real move. Dewsbury-Hall slid a clever pass in behind for makeshift right-back Merlin Rohl, pressed into service in a problem position. Rohl picked out Iliman Ndiaye, whose low drive was straight at Dean Henderson. It was a warning, not a breakthrough.

Woodwork, disbelief, and then the breakthrough

Sage, fresh from an impressive campaign with RC Lens, could hardly have asked for a more vivid introduction to the Premier League’s cruelty.

Palace were bright, direct, dangerous. Nketiah rattled the post. Mateta hit the woodwork as well. On another day, they walk in at half-time two up and in control.

Instead, they were staring at the scoreboard in disbelief.

Three minutes before the interval, the punishment arrived. Everton worked the ball to Dewsbury-Hall on the edge of the area. One touch, head up, and he drilled a precise strike into the far corner. Henderson was beaten, Hill Dickinson erupted, and a tense, scrappy half suddenly belonged to the home side.

That goal did more than change the score. It loosened Everton’s shoulders. The tentative, edgy football of last season’s run-in gave way to something more assertive.

Barry doubles up, Palace unravel

Any Palace hopes of regrouping after the break evaporated almost immediately.

Eight minutes into the second half, Ndiaye produced the kind of delivery every forward craves, swinging in a wicked cross from the flank. Barry attacked it, timing his run and his leap perfectly, and powered a close-range header past Henderson to make it 2-0.

The pressure that had hung over Everton for months seemed to lift with that second goal. Passes started to stick. The crowd, so often anxious here last season, roared rather than groaned.

For Palace, the afternoon turned from frustrating to grim. Midway through the half, defender Chadi Riad went down in clear distress, appearing to suffer a serious knee injury. He was carried off on a stretcher, a painful moment on a day already laced with regret.

Sage, arms folded on the touchline, could only watch as the game slipped away.

Moyes, new house, new feeling

Moyes had described Everton’s first season at Hill Dickinson as like moving into a new house with only the wallpaper up. The setting was impressive, the view over the River Mersey striking, but the sense of home never quite arrived. Six wins from 19 league games told its own story.

This felt different.

They were not flawless. Everton still lack a natural right-back and were stretched at times by Nketiah’s movement and Mateta’s physical presence. Pickford had to produce a couple of outstanding saves to preserve the lead, underlining how fragile momentum can be in games like this.

Yet this time, the key moments fell their way. Dewsbury-Hall dictated spells of the contest, scoring one, creating another big chance, and knitting together attacks. Barry’s goal gave the scoreline the cushion Everton needed. The defence, rattled early on, held firm when Palace pushed again.

By the final whistle, Hill Dickinson felt less like a showpiece and more like a ground where Everton expect to win.

Sage’s harsh welcome, Palace’s looming questions

For Sage, this was a brutal initiation.

He became the 15th manager to lose his first Premier League match in charge of Crystal Palace. The margins were thin: two efforts off the woodwork, a glaring early miss, and a key forward left at home as transfer talk swirls. Yet the scoreboard, and the sight of his players trudging off, told a starker story.

Palace arrive in this season on the back of a golden year: three trophies, including the FA Cup, and a European triumph in the Conference League. That success always carried a warning label. Oliver Glasner has gone. Defender Maxence Lacroix has departed. Sarr may yet follow before the window shuts.

Even the most optimistic Palace supporters knew a period of transition was coming. Performances like this, full of intent but empty-handed, will test how patient they can be.

On another afternoon, with Sarr in the XI and the post an inch kinder, Palace might have been the ones dancing back down the tunnel. Instead, they left Merseyside with an injured centre-back, a frustrated manager, and a reminder of how unforgiving this league can be.

Everton walked away with something far more valuable: a win, a hint of swagger in their new home, and the sense that if Moyes gets those “one or two” signings before the window closes, this season might finally move them out of survival mode and into something more ambitious.