Everton's Young Midfield Shines in Opening Victory

Everton did not just win an opening-day Premier League game. They snapped a habit, shifted a mood and did it with a midfield that looked nothing like the one that limped over the line last season.

A 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace ended a grim run of four straight matchday one defeats without a goal and marked their first opening-day win since August 2021, when Rafael Benitez was in the dugout and Southampton were the victims. This felt very different. Younger. Sharper. Bolder.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry got the goals either side of half-time, but the story ran deeper than the scoreline.

A young core, and a manager delighted

David Moyes sent out one of the youngest XIs of his second spell at Goodison Park, with an average age of 25 years and 308 days – only beaten by the side that beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 last December.

Two names dragged that number down and lifted the noise inside the stadium: 19-year-old academy graduate Harrison Armstrong and 24-year-old summer signing Hayden Hackney from Middlesbrough.

"They were great, I'm really pleased," Moyes told Everton’s website. "Harrison is earning his place in the team. He's got an opportunity here, where at other clubs he might not have. He's shown lots of good things.

"With Hayden, sometimes boys from the Championship need time, but he's done well. I have to give him praise for how quickly he's picked things up."

This was not a gentle bedding-in exercise. Palace, under new boss Pierre Sage, came to play – and for long spells in the first half, they were the more dangerous side.

Palace hit the woodwork, Everton hit first

Everton’s clean sheet owed as much to luck and Jordan Pickford as it did to structure. Palace carved out the better early chances and somehow went in at the break behind.

Eddie Nketiah broke through one-on-one and looked certain to score, only for Pickford to get the slightest touch and divert the ball onto the post. Jean-Philippe Mateta also struck the upright as the visitors repeatedly found gaps.

"Both teams had periods in the game. We could easily have been a couple of goals down – it was a worldie save and it could have gone the other way," Moyes admitted.

Then came the punch that changed everything.

Three minutes before half-time, Dewsbury-Hall stepped up with a rasping strike that cut through the tension and Palace’s resistance. One clean hit, 42 minutes in, and Everton’s anxious opening-day narrative flipped.

"Once we got the first goal, it settled us. That mattered. We had big moments; Kiernan's goal was important," Moyes said. "We managed the game well after that and contained Palace really well."

The numbers told a different story to the scoreboard. Palace finished with a higher expected goals total – 2.04 to Everton’s 1.16 – despite having only 11 shots to the hosts’ 16. Of that, 1.65 xG came before the interval. They had Everton where they wanted them. They just did not finish the job.

Sage left to rue wasteful finishing

Sage’s side played with conviction before the break but faded badly after it, a drop in standards he did not try to dress up.

"We played in the right way to win in the first half, but not in the second," he told Palace TV. "But when you play in this direction, you have to score.

"We missed two or three big opportunities, and we gave the goal to the opponent. That's why the second half was difficult, with them getting the second goal too.

"Sometimes, you know, you do the job but you don't get the salary at the end – and today it was like that.

"Sometimes you play very well and you can keep it on YouTube, and when you lose your finishing, you take the clip and you put it in the waste. That's why a goal is very important."

Everton, buoyed by the lead and a crowd that has seen too many false starts, grew in confidence. The second goal underlined the difference between the sides on the day: one team ruthless when it mattered, the other wasteful.

Barry’s strike after the break put the result beyond doubt and wrapped up a win that felt bigger than three points for a club that ended last season on a seven-game winless run.

What comes next

The challenge now is clear. Turn one bright afternoon into a pattern, not an exception.

Everton head to Bournemouth next Saturday for their second league outing, with an EFL Cup trip to Preston North End in midweek to navigate first. Palace, still searching for their first points under Sage, must regroup quickly before hosting Manchester City on Friday.

Everton have finally started a season on the front foot again. The question is whether this young, energetic midfield can keep them there.